Only a few of the vast range of potential two-dimensional materials have been isolated or synthesised to date. Typically, 2D materials are discovered by mechanically exfoliating naturally occurring bulk crystals to produce atomically thin layers, after which a material-specific vapour synthesis method must be developed to grow interesting candidates in a scalable manner. Here we show a general approach for synthesising thin layers of two-dimensional binary compounds. We apply the method to obtain high quality, epitaxial MoS2 films, and extend the principle to the synthesis of a wide range of other materials - both well-known and never-before isolated - including transition metal sulphides, selenides, tellurides, and nitrides. This approach greatly simplifies the synthesis of currently known materials, and provides a general framework for synthesising both predicted and unexpected new 2D compounds.
@article{arxiv.1805.08002,
title = {A general approach for the synthesis of two-dimensional binary compounds},
author = {Abhay Shivayogimath and Joachim Dahl Thomsen and David M. A. Mackenzie and Mathias Geisler and Jens Kling and Zoltan Imre Balogh and Andrea Crovetto and Patrick R. Whelan and Peter Bøggild and Timothy J. Booth},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1805.08002},
year = {2019}
}