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Mechanically cleaving non-van der Waals structures by disrupting interlayer interactions

Isolating 2D materials from non-van der Waals (non-vdW) layered structures by mechanical cleavage is challenging owing to strong electronic coupling between adjacent layers. We show that mechanically sliding the layers weakens interlayer interactions, enabling delamination of a wide range of non-vdW layered structures to produce 2D sheets with unusual thickness-dependent physical properties.

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Fig. 1: Sliding of adjacent layers facilitates mechanical exfoliation of non-van der Waals structures.

References

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This is a summary of: Jiang, K. et al. Mechanical cleavage of non-van der Waals structures towards two-dimensional crystals. Nat. Synth. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44160-022-00182-6 (2022).

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Mechanically cleaving non-van der Waals structures by disrupting interlayer interactions. Nat. Synth 2, 15–16 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44160-022-00183-5

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