Monolayer atomic crystal molecular superlatticesMonolayer atomic crystal molecular superlattices, Published online: 07 March 2018; doi:10.1038/nature25774This paper reports the formation of superlattices of two-dimensional materials with layers of quaternary ammonium molecules introduced between the two-dimensional (2D) crystals via electrochemical intercalation. The team created a range of superlattices using different molecules that varied in size and symmetry and different two-dimensional crystals such as tungsten diselenide and molybdenum disulfide. Intercalation decoupled the 2D interlayer interactions, whereas varying the molecules adjusted the electronic and optical properties of the 2D layers. Importantly, the approach allowed the stable isolation of phosphorene monolayers (albeit within a superlattice), which has previously been challenging to achieve. They authors showed that field-effect transistor devices made with the phosphorene superlattices performed competitively compared to recently reported phosphorene-based devices.
Published in: "Nature".