Graphene, the two-dimensional, ultra lightweight and super-strong carbon film, has been hailed as a wonder material since its discovery in 2004. Now researchers are going beyond graphene and preparing other 2-D films with extraordinary properties for applications in wearable electronics, sensors and energy storage. The cover story in Chemical and Engineering News (C and EN), the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, surveys this expanding landscape.

Mitch Jacoby, a senior correspondent at C and EN, notes that most 2-D materials have certain features in common: They tend to be flexible, transparent, and can be tuned more easily than their bulk counterparts. Some are electrical conductors, and others are insulators or semiconductors. However, there are some gray areas about what 2-D means. How many layers thick can they be? Do the materials need to be free standing?

While those questions are not fully resolved, researchers have forged ahead with the creation of new ultrathin films with varying properties. They largely fall into five major groups: MXenes, Xenes, organic materials, transition metal dichalcogenides and nitrides. The materials are in differing stages of development, from laboratory curiosity to demonstration devices.

Research Report: "2-D materials go beyond graphene,"

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BESSY 2 experiment shows 3D graphene properties are tuneable
Berlin, Germany (SPX) May 30, 2017
Carbon is a very versatile element. It not only forms diamonds, graphite, and coal, but can also take a planar form as a hexagonal matrix - graphene. This material, consisting of only a single atomic layer, possesses many extreme properties. It is highly conductive, optically transparent, and is mechanically flexible as well as able to withstand loads. Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov r ... read more

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