A general approach for the synthesis of two-dimensional binary compounds

TL;DR

This paper introduces a universal method for synthesizing a broad spectrum of two-dimensional binary compounds, simplifying production and enabling the discovery of new materials beyond traditional exfoliation techniques.

Contribution

The authors present a general synthesis approach applicable to various 2D binary compounds, including previously unisolated materials, expanding the toolkit for 2D material fabrication.

Findings

Successful synthesis of high-quality epitaxial MoS2 films

Extension of the method to other transition metal compounds

Potential to discover new 2D materials beyond known ones

Abstract

Only a few of the vast range of potential two-dimensional materials have been isolated or synthesised to date. Typically, 2D materials are discovered by mechanically exfoliating naturally occurring bulk crystals to produce atomically thin layers, after which a material-specific vapour synthesis method must be developed to grow interesting candidates in a scalable manner. Here we show a general approach for synthesising thin layers of two-dimensional binary compounds. We apply the method to obtain high quality, epitaxial MoS2 films, and extend the principle to the synthesis of a wide range of other materials - both well-known and never-before isolated - including transition metal sulphides, selenides, tellurides, and nitrides. This approach greatly simplifies the synthesis of currently known materials, and provides a general framework for synthesising both predicted and unexpected new 2D compounds.