Issue 11, 2020

Are two-dimensional materials radiation tolerant?

Abstract

Two-dimensional (2D) materials have many unique properties, which can be exploited in various applications. In particular, electronic devices based on 2D materials should ideally be suited for the operation in outer cosmic space due to their low weight, small size and low power consumption. This brings about the issue of their radiation hardness, or tolerance, which has recently been addressed in a number of studies. The results of these investigations are somewhat counterintuitive: although one can naively expect that atomically thin structures should easily be destroyed by the beams of energetic particles, the devices made from 2D materials were reported to exhibit extraordinary radiation hardness. In this Focus article, an overview of the recent studies on the subject is given, followed by the discussion of the origin of the reported high tolerance, which is inherently related to the response of 2D materials, the systems with the reduced dimensionality, to irradiation. The analysis of the experimental and theoretical data on the behavior of 2D systems under irradiation indicates that although free-standing 2D materials can indeed be referred to as radiation resilient systems under irradiation conditions corresponding to the outer space, this is generally not the case, as the environment, e.g., the substrate, can strongly influence the radiation tolerance of 2D materials and devices based on these systems.

Graphical abstract: Are two-dimensional materials radiation tolerant?

Article information

Article type
Focus
Submitted
30 jul 2020
Accepted
18 sep 2020
First published
18 sep 2020

Nanoscale Horiz., 2020,5, 1447-1452

Are two-dimensional materials radiation tolerant?

A. V. Krasheninnikov, Nanoscale Horiz., 2020, 5, 1447 DOI: 10.1039/D0NH00465K

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