Solution-Processable Superatomic Thin-Films

Abstract

Atomically precise nanoscale clusters could assemble into crystalline ionic crystals akin to the atomic ionic solids through the strong electrostatic interactions between the constituent clusters. Here we show that, unlike atomic ionic solids, the electrostatic interactions between nanoscale clusters could be frustrated by using large clusters with long and flexible side-chains so that the ionic cluster pairs do not crystallize. As such, we report ionic superatomic materials that can be easily solution-processed into completely amorphous and homogeneous thin-films. These new amorphous superatomic materials show tunable compositions and new properties that are not achievable in crystals, including very high electrical conductivities of up to 300 S per meter, ultra low thermal conductivities of 0.05 W per meter per degree kelvin, and high optical transparency of up to 92%. We also demonstrate thin-film thermoelectrics with unoptimized ZT values of 0.02 based on the superatomic thin-films. Such properties are competitive to state-of-the-art materials and make superatomic materials promising as a new class of electronic and thermoelectric materials for devices.