The team created devices to stablise 2D materials. Credit: Image courtesy of University of Manchester
Newly developed 2D crystals are capable of delivering designer materials with revolutionary new properties. By protecting the new reactive crystals with more stable 2D materials, such as graphene, via computer control in a specially designed inert gas chamber environments, these materials can be successfully isolated to a single atomic layer for the first time.
University of Manchester team demonstrate how tailored fabrication methods can make these previously inaccessible materials useful. By protecting the new reactive crystals with more stable 2D materials, such as graphene, via computer control in a specially designed inert gas chamber environments, these materials can be successfully isolated to a single atomic layer for the first time. Combining a range of 2D materials in thin stacks give scientists the opportunity to control the properties of the materials, which can allow ‘materials-to-order’ to meet the demands of industry.
High-frequency electronics for satellite communications, and light weight batteries for mobile energy storage are just 2 of the application areas that could benefit from this research. The breakthrough could allow for many more atomically thin materials to be studied separately as well as serve as building blocks for multilayer devices with such tailored properties.
Dr Roman Gorbachev’s team used a unique fabrication method on 2 2-D crystals that are unstable in air: black phosphorus and niobium diselenide. The technique allows unique characteristics and excellent electronic properties of these air-sensitive 2D crystals to be revealed for the first time. http://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/news/article/?id=15005
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