Ion-doped two-dimensional nanomaterials are made by inducing electronic carriers (electrons and holes) in a two-dimensional material using a captured ion layer at the surface of the material. The captured ion layer is stabilized using a capping layer. The induction of electronic carriers works in atomically-thin two-dimensional materials, where it induces high carrier density of at least 1014 carriers/cm2. A variety of novel ion-doped nanomaterials and p-n junction-based nanoelectronic devices are made possible by the method.