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2d Materials For Research: Graphene And The Expanding Horizon

2d Materials For Research

2d Materials For Research | Image Resource : miro.medium.com

2d materials are the new frontier of science. They have heralded in a era where the 2d forms of various known elements and compounds can be used in a number of ways that were unknown and unthinkable even a few years ago. They are making it possible to make products that are multiple times tougher than steel while being much lighter than it. Although these materials are yet to be in wide practical use, they are now being researched upon extensively.

2D Materials For Research

The discovery of 2d materials was a chance, rather than a conscious attempt. Scientists had been exfoliating graphite mechanically until there remained jut one atom layer of the element. What evoked interest in the scientific community is the peculiar set of properties of the resultant material. It exhibited completely different properties compared to its parent, i.e graphite. This is what sparked a race for research on 2d materials.

Research on 2d materials

After the discovery of one atom thin layer of graphite and its peculiar properties, scientists went ahead full steam with synthesizing one-atom thin structures of other elements like tin, germanium etc. This has sparked a race in research on 2d materials. Gradually, the ambit of research has come out of elements. Transition Metal Dichalcogenides like Molybdenum Disulfide are the latest fad in the race to discover uniquely different 2d materials that can help overcome various limitations of materials.

Certainly, there is a lot going on in the field of research. Yet, the most highly researched and synthesized 2d material is grapheme, the 2d variety of graphite. It is the most widely practiced 2D Materials For Research for the scientific community. It is the first among all the materials to have been synthesized. It is also the most widely synthesized material. In fact, it is the only material to have been synthesized in a number of ways.

Discovery of various avenues of grapheme synthesis have made Graphene one of the cheapest 2d materials to synthesis. In fact, various avenues have also been discovered to use graphene. Yet the use of graphene has not yet consolidated since the properties of graphene now seem to be miniscule when compared to new and more promising 2d materials.

New 2d materials discovered

Scientists have discovered new 2d materials like silicone from silicon, germane from germanium, Stanin from tin, MoS2, i.e Molybdenum Sulphide, Borophene, antimonine, boron nitride, composite materials etc. Moreover, according to report thousands of 2d materials are just waiting to be discovered. Yet, the quest for the most perfect 2d materials which will help make super tough products despite being superlight and having other unique properties is going on.

Synthesis of 2d materials

Synthesizing pure 2d materials is a delicate job. This is why along with looking for new 2d materials, scientists are also looking for new avenues for synthesis of 2d materials. Graphene has so far been synthesized in a number of ways. This has brought down the production cost of graphene. New sources of graphene have also been identified. This is required for all the 2d materials since production cost of 2d synthesis is huge.