Center for Functional Nanomaterials Seminar

There has recently been a substantial increase in research on 2D materials (2DMs), which offer significant advantages over their bulk counterparts due to their exceptional properties. Although a proof-of-concept of functional devices based on 2DMs has been demonstrated, there is yet to be a known scalable materials production method that can achieve both high material quality and high throughput production with precise layer control. In this seminar, I will introduce atomic spalling of the van der Waals crystals that achieve large area 2DMs (graphene, MoS2, MoSe2, and WSe2) with a controlled number of layers. We found that being a layered crystal with a weak interlayer vdW force enables to control of the crack propagation depth at the scale corresponding to the single atomic thickness by adjusting interfacial toughness and the internal stress of the stressor film. The presented results show huge potential for the manufacture of layer-resolved high-quality vdW materials, which can be developed into practical functional electronic and photonic devices.