A new process that lets scientists chemically cut apart and stitch together nanoscopic layers of two-dimensional materials—like a tailor altering a suit—could be just the tool for designing the technology of a sustainable energy future. Researchers from Drexel University, China and Sweden, have developed a method for structurally splitting, editing and reconstituting layered materials, called MAX phases and MXenes, with the potential of producing new materials with very unusual compositions and exceptional properties.
A "chemical scissor" is a chemical designed to react with a specific compound to break a chemical bond. The original set of chemical scissors, designed to break carbon-hydrogen bonds in organic molecules, was reported more than a decade ago.
In a paper recently published in Science, the international team reported on a method to sharpen the scissors so that they can cut through extremely strong and stable layered nanomaterials in a way that breaks atomic bonds within a single atomic plane, then substitutes new elements—fundamentally altering the material's composition in a single chemical "snip."
"This research opens a new era of materials science, enabling atomistic engineering of two-dimensional and layered materials," said Yury Gogotsi, Ph.D., Distinguished University professor and Bach chair in Drexel's College of Engineering, who was an author of the research. "We are showing a way to assemble and disassemble these materials like LEGO blocks, which will lead to the development of exciting new materials that have not even been predicted to be able to exist until now."
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