Here, we explore the effectiveness of a pulsed laser annealing (PLA) process to trigger atomic scale edge contacts by Ag filaments in reducing the contact resistance of a MoS₂ field-effect transistor (FET). Employing a long wavelength (1064 nm) pulsed laser, we anneal monolayer (1L)-MoS₂ FETs with various metal electrodes, including Ag/Au, Ni/Au, and Cr/Au. A remarkable enhancement in FET performance could be achieved after the PLA treatment. Specifically, Ag/Au-contacted 1L-MoS₂ FETs after the PLA treatment exhibit a peak field-effect mobility increase from 60 to 135 cm² V^-1 s^-1 and an on-current improvement from 40.5 to 96.1 μA at a Vd of 1 V, accompanied by a significant decrease in contact resistance to 0.29 kΩ μm. PLA-treated 1L-MoS₂ FETs showed a high on/off ratio of 10⁷. TEM analysis provided insight into the mechanism of reduced contact resistance, revealing the thermally driven diffusion of Ag atoms into the 1L-MoS₂ as Ag filaments to lateral contact with the edge of the 1L-MoS₂, namely atomic scale edge contacts, as a key contributing factor. Furthermore, our investigation extends to the larger scale CVD-grown 1L-MoS₂ films, where the PLA treatment demonstrates notable improvements in mobility, on-current, and on-off ratio.

This study investigates the enhancement of organic light-emitting diode (OLED) performance through the integration of titanium dioxide (TiO₂) nanocomposites within a poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT/PSS) matrix. The nanocomposite films were prepared using a controlled dispersion of TiO₂ belts into the PEDOT/PSS solution, followed by their incorporation into the OLED hole-injection layer (HIL). Our results demonstrate a significant improvement in device efficiency, attributed to the optimized charge carrier mobility and reduced recombination losses, which were achieved by the presence of TiO₂. The nanocomposite hybrid layer enhances light emission efficiency due to its role in modifying surface roughness, promoting better film uniformity, and improving hole injection. The incorporation of TiO₂ nanobelts into PEDOT/PSS led to significant efficiency enhancements, yielding a 39% increase in PE_max, a 37% improvement in CE_max, and a remarkable 72% rise in EQE_max compared to the undoped counterpart. This research provides insight into the potential of TiO₂ nanocomposites in advancing OLED technology for next-generation display and lighting applications.

The efficient hydrogen generation from water splitting underpins chemistry to realize the hydrogen economy. The electrocatalytic activity can be effectively modified by two-dimensional (2D) heterostructures, which offer great flexibility. Furthermore, they are useful in enhancing the exposure of the active sites for the hydrogen evolution reaction. Although the 1T metallic phase of the Transition Metal Dichalcogenides (TMDs) is important for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalyst, its practical application has not yet been much utilized because of the lack of stability of the 1T phase. Here, we introduce a novel approach to create a 1T-WS₂/1T-WSe₂ heterostructure using a low-temperature plasma-assisted chemical vapor reaction (PACVR), namely plasma-assisted sulphurization and plasma-assisted selenization processes. This heterostructure exhibits superior electrocatalytic performance due to the presence of the metallic 1T phase and the beneficial synergistic effect at the interface, which is attributed to the transfer of electrons from the underlying WS₂ layer to the overlying WSe₂ layer. The WS₂/WSe₂ heterostructured catalyst demonstrates remarkable performance in HER, as evidenced by its small Tafel slope of 57 mV.dec^–1 and exceptional durability. The usage of plasma helps in replacing the top S atoms with Se atoms, and this ion bombardment also increases the roughness of the thin film, thus adding another factor to enhance the HER performance. This plasma-synthesized low-temperature metallic phase heterostructure brings out a novel method for the discovery of other catalysts. Keywords: TMDCs, PACVR, WS₂, WSe₂, HER. Figure 1