Atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) materials exhibit superlative properties dictated by their intralayer atomic structure, which is typically derived from a limited number of thermodynamically stable bulk layered crystals (e.g., graphene from graphite). The growth of entirely synthetic 2D crystals – those with no corresponding bulk allotrope – would circumvent this dependence upon bulk thermodynamics and substantially expand the phase space available for structure-property engineering of 2D materials. In an interdisciplinary study within IRG-1 of the Northwestern University MRSEC, X-ray standing wave characterization was performed on the synthetic 2D phase of boron (i.e., borophene). This observation of synthetic borophene as chemically discrete from the underlying silver growth substrate suggests that it is possible to realize a much wider variety of 2D materials than those accessible through bulk layered crystal structures.
Nano Letters, 18, 2816 (2018).
