Nanoions tuned two-dimensional van der Waals materials for information devices

The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) has triggered an escalating demand for high-performance, miniaturized, and multifunctional electronic information devices. Silicon-based electronics, which have laid the foundation for the electronics industry over the past few decades, are now approaching the physical limitations with the extension of Moore’s law. Two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals (vdW) materials have emerged as promising candidates for next-generation electronic devices, due to their atomic-scale thickness, wide range of material choices, and excellent physical property tunability. Notably, it has been demonstrated that 2D vdW materials can facilitate ion migration under an electric field, enabling the reversible and efficient modulation of electrical resistance. Such a characteristic unlocks new possibilities for the design and construction of multifunctional and reconfigurable information devices. This review delves into the generation and transport of nanoionics in 2D vdW materials and their impact on modifying electrical properties. It explores strategies for device architecture design and their applications in advanced information processing. The latest progress in ion-driven reconfigurable devices for memory, logic-in-memory, neuromorphic computing, and data encryption is systematically summarized. Challenges in this field and future research directions are also discussed.