Towards Exotic Layered Materials: 2D Cuprous Iodide

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a method to stabilize and produce exotic 2D layered materials, specifically copper iodide, at room temperature using graphene encapsulation, expanding the potential for new 2D materials.

Contribution

It introduces a novel technique to synthesize and stabilize non-ambient layered materials in 2D form at room temperature.

Findings

Successfully stabilized 2D copper iodide at room temperature.

Demonstrated growth of layered copper iodide using graphene oxide templates.

Opened pathways for exploring new 2D materials beyond ambient conditions.

Abstract

Heterostructures composed of two-dimensional (2D) materials are already opening many new possibilities in such fields of technology as electronics and magnonics, but far more could be achieved if the number and diversity of 2D materials is increased. So far, only a few dozen 2D crystals have been extracted from materials that exhibit a layered phase in ambient conditions, omitting entirely the large number of layered materials that may exist in other temperatures and pressures. Here, we demonstrate how these structures can be stabilized in 2D van der Waals stacks under room temperature via growing them directly in graphene encapsulation by using graphene oxide as the template material. Specifically, we produce an ambient stable 2D structure of copper and iodine, a material that normally only occurs in layered form at elevated temperatures between 645 and 675 K. Our results establish a route to the production of more exotic phases of materials that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to stabilize for experiments in ambient.