How to make 2-D materials with liquid metals

Just as slugs leave behind trails of goo, liquid metals can leave behind atomically thin films. Researchers at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology have introduced a new method that uses oozy liquid metals to create solid two-dimensional metal oxides (Science 2017, DOI: 10.1126/science.aao4249). This approach could create 2-D films from a variety of metals, potentially broadening the range of ultrathin materials with attractive optical and electronic properties, the researchers say. Watch this video to learn more about the technique, which Jonathan N. Coleman, a 2-D materials guru at Trinity College Dublin who was not involved in the work, calls “a real breakthrough.”