Phyllosilicates as earth-abundant layered materials for electronics and optoelectronics: Prospects and challenges in their ultrathin limit

TL;DR

This paper reviews the potential of phyllosilicate minerals as earth-abundant layered materials for future electronic and optoelectronic devices, highlighting their properties, applications, and challenges at the ultrathin 2D scale.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of the properties and prospects of phyllosilicates as low-cost 2D materials for electronics and optoelectronics, including current challenges.

Findings

Phyllosilicates have promising electronic and optoelectronic properties.

They can be used to engineer novel 2D heterostructures.

Major challenges include material stability and integration.

Abstract

Phyllosilicate minerals are an emerging class of naturally occurring layered insulators with large bandgap energy that have gained attention from the scientific community. This class of lamellar materials has been recently explored at the ultrathin two-dimensional level due to their specific mechanical, electrical, magnetic, and optoelectronic properties, which are crucial for engineering novel devices (including heterostructures). Due to these properties, phyllosilicates minerals can be considered promising low-cost nanomaterials for future applications. In this Perspective article, we will present relevant features of these materials for their use in potential 2D-based electronic and optoelectronic applications, also discussing some of the major challenges in working with them.