Stabilizer-free, low-solvent-waste exfoliation of 2D materials for printed memristors

<h2>Summary</h2> Conventional exfoliation relies on stabilizers or harsh solvents, limiting scalability and requiring post-processing. We present a low-waste, stabilizer-free method for exfoliating 2D materials using high-pressure homogenization (HPH) in isopropyl alcohol (IPA). We optimize HPH with <mml:math><mml:mrow>MoS<mml:mn>2</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:math> and benchmark it against an ultrasound-assisted liquid-phase exfoliation (LPE) method. The optimized HPH process achieves a 20% yield, significantly higher than the 1.2% yield of LPE, while generating only 10% of the solvent waste. Life-cycle assessment (LCA) confirms the lower environmental footprint of HPH. We further demonstrate this method's applicability to other layered materials. To evaluate the suitability of exfoliated materials for printed device fabrication, we formulate HPH-exfoliated <mml:math><mml:mrow>MoS<mml:mn>2</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:math> ink and fabricate inkjet-printed memristors, which show enhanced performance and reduced variability compared to LPE-based devices. These results highlight the advantages of HPH in producing high-quality 2D material ink with reduced environmental impact and better processability for scalable printed electronics.