Issue 9, 2018

Chemical synthesis of two-dimensional atomic crystals, heterostructures and superlattices

Abstract

Two-dimensional atomic crystals (2DACs) have attracted intense recent interest. With a nearly perfect crystalline structure and dangling-bond free surface, these atomically thin materials have emerged as a new material platform for fundamental materials science and diverse technology opportunities at the limit of single atom thickness. Over the past decade, a wide range of 2DACs has been prepared by mechanically exfoliating bulk layered crystals, which has fueled the rapid progress of the entire field in terms of fundamental physics and basic device demonstrations. However, studies to date are largely limited to mechanically exfoliated flakes, which are clearly not scalable for practical applications. The chemical synthesis of these materials has been lagging far behind fundamental property investigations or novel device demonstrations, which limits further progress of the field. To explore the full potential of 2DACs requires a robust synthesis of these atomically thin materials and scalable construction of complex heterostructures with designed spatial modulation of chemical compositions and electronic structures. The extreme aspect ratio and highly delicate nature of the atomically thin crystals pose a significant synthetic challenge beyond traditional bulk crystals and have motivated considerable efforts worldwide. Here we will review the recent advances, challenges and future perspective of the chemical synthesis of 2DACs, heterostructures and superlattices.

Graphical abstract: Chemical synthesis of two-dimensional atomic crystals, heterostructures and superlattices

Article information

Article type
Review Article
Submitted
20 Dec 2017
First published
12 Mar 2018

Chem. Soc. Rev., 2018,47, 3129-3151

Chemical synthesis of two-dimensional atomic crystals, heterostructures and superlattices

P. Chen, Z. Zhang, X. Duan and X. Duan, Chem. Soc. Rev., 2018, 47, 3129 DOI: 10.1039/C7CS00887B

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements