2D materials

2D Topological Materials, sometimes referred to as Single layer materials, are crystalline materials consisting of a single layer of atoms. Since the isolation of graphene, a single-layer of graphite, in 2004, a large amount of research has been directed at isolating other 2D materials due to their unusual characteristics and for use in applications such as photovoltaics, semiconductors, electrodes and water purification.

2D materials can generally be categorised as either 2D allotropes of various elements or compounds (usually consisting of two covalently bonding elements). The elemental 2D materials generally carry the –ene suffix in their names while the compounds have –ane or -ide suffixes. Layered combinations of different 2D materials are generally called van der Waals heterostructures.

While the first 2d material to be discovered was graphene, in 2004, some 500 2D materials may remain to be found. Research on these other materials has grown more rapidly than that on graphene since 2010.