Multitasking monolayers

Vanderbilt News



by David Salisbury | Jul. 21, 2017, 1:02 PM | Want more research news? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter »


SHARELINES TweetMultitasking monolayers lay groundwork for devices that can do two things at once





Illustration of the triangular pattern formed by the two-dimensional material chalcogenide that allows the creation of dual-function devices. (Yu-Yang Zhang / Chinese Academy of Sciences)
Two-dimensional materials that can multitask.
That is the result of a new process that naturally produces patterned monolayers that can act as a base for creating a wide variety of novel materials with dual optical, magnetic, catalytic or sensing capabilities.
“Patterned materials open up the possibility of having two functionalities in a single material, such as catalyzing a chemical reaction while simultaneously serving as a sensor for a second set of molecules,” said Sokrates Pantelides, William and Nancy McMinn Professor of Physics at Vanderbilt University, who coordinated the research with Professor Hong-Jun Gao at the Institute of Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. “Of course, you can do such a thing by using two materials side by side, but patterned materials offer a whole range of new options for device designers.”
Their achievement is described in a paper titled “Intrinsically patterned two-dimensional materials for selective adsorption of molecules and nanoclusters” published Jun. 12 in the journal Nature Materials.
Sokrates Pantelides (Joe Howell / Vanderbilt)
In electronics, two dimensional (2D) materials are a hot topic because of their many potential applications. Graphene, which consists of a single sheet of carbon atoms, has received the most attention, but it has proven very difficult to tune its chemical and electrical properties. As a result, chalcogenides (materials that contain sulfur, selenium or tellurium, which are known for their widely varied optical, electrical and thermal properties) are now the focus of worldwide research because some of them naturally form monolayers that can serve as blank slates that are readily tailored for specific ...

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