Water Intercalation for Seamless, Electrically Insulating, and Thermally Transparent Interfaces.

The interface between functional nanostructures and host substrates is of pivotal importance in the design of their nanoelectronic applications because it conveys energy and information between the device and environment. We report here an interface-engineering approach to establish a seamless, electrically insulating, while thermally transparent interface between graphene and metal substrates by introducing water intercalation. Molecular dynamics simulations and first-principles calculations are performed to demonstrate this concept of design, showing that the presence of the interfacial water layer helps to unfold wrinkles formed in the graphene membrane, insulate the electronic coupling between graphene and the substrate, and elevate the interfacial thermal conductance. The findings here lay the ground for a new class of nanoelectronic setups through interface engineering, which could lead to significant improvement in the performance of nanodevices, such as the field-effect transistors.