The development of emerging applications based on large-area flexible and wearable devices requires solution-processable thin-film electronics. Organic semiconductors can be processed in solution, but typically suffer from relatively low performance and insufficient stability in ambient conditions. Inorganic nanostructures, however, can be processed in solution while retaining the excellent electronic performance and structural stability of crystalline inorganic materials. In particular, a range of two-dimensional inorganic nanosheets can be dispersed in various solvents as stable colloidal inks. These nanosheets can be assembled into continuous thin films in which neighbouring sheets interact via van der Waals forces with few interfacial trapping states. The resulting tiled nanosheets, which we term two-dimensional van der Waals thin films, offer significant potential in thin-film electronics. Here we explore the development of van der Waals thin films and their use in high-performance large-area electronics. We examine the formulation of the nanosheet inks and their scalable assembly into van der Waals thin films and devices. We also consider their application in large-area wearable electronics and the challenges that exist in delivering practical devices.

基于大面积柔性和可穿戴设备的新兴应用的开发需要可溶液处理的薄膜电子产品。有机半导体可以在溶液中进行处理，但通常会表现出较低的性能以及在环境条件下的稳定性不足。然而，可以在溶液中处理无机纳米结构，同时保留结晶无机材料的出色电子性能和结构稳定性。特别地，一系列二维无机纳米片可以作为稳定的胶体油墨分散在各种溶剂中。这些纳米片可以组装成连续的薄膜，其中相邻的片通过范德华力以很少的界面俘获状态相互作用。所得的平铺纳米片，我们称其为二维范德华薄膜，在薄膜电子领域具有巨大的潜力。在这里，我们探讨了范德华薄膜的发展及其在高性能大面积电子产品中的应用。我们研究了纳米片油墨的配方及其可扩展组装到范德华薄膜和器件中的方法。我们还考虑了它们在大面积可穿戴电子产品中的应用以及交付实际设备时所面临的挑战。