Electrospun Amorphous In-Zn-O Nanofibers: Nanostructural Engineering for High Performance Field Effect Transistors and Efficient Ethylene Gas Sensors

Abstract

1D oxide semiconductor nanofibers (NFs) have attracted significant interest as nanostructured electronic materials for universal electronic devices owing to their high surface-to-volume ratio, short charge transport pathways, and excellent mechanical flexibility and stretchability. In this study, electrospinning is used to prepare amorphous In-Zn-O (IZO) NFs, enabling the facile and direct fabrication of NF-based field-effect transistors (FETs). Compared with polycrystalline-phase counterpart, these devices exhibit superior electrical performance, with an electron mobility of 33.85 cm2V-1s-1, threshold voltage of -0.79 V, and a small subthreshold swing of 0.21 Vdec-1 at a low channel coverage of 0.35 mu m-1, facilitating low operating voltage. Furthermore, owing to the special electronic properties of amorphous oxide materials, characterized by fewer grain boundaries, and the high specific surface area of NF structures, the amorphous IZO-NF-based gas sensor exhibits exceptional sensitivity toward agricultural ethylene gas in a wide range of concentrations at low temperatures. These demonstrated versatile electronic applications of amorphous IZO NFs highlight their potential as candidate materials for future wearable electronics.