2D Materials and Applications

Two-dimensional materials are crystalline solids reduced to a single or few atomic layers, where quantum confinement fundamentally reshapes their electronic and optical properties relative to their bulk counterparts — monolayer MoS2, for instance, transitions from an indirect to a direct bandgap semiconductor, enabling efficient light emission that the bulk form cannot achieve. Researchers study how these atomically thin crystals behave on their own and when stacked into van der Waals heterostructures, where adjacent layers interact without covalent bonding, opening routes to engineered band alignments and novel quasiparticle physics such as interlayer excitons. A central challenge is understanding and controlling excitonic effects — bound electron-hole pairs that dominate optical responses in these materials — since their behavior is highly sensitive to dielectric environment, defects, and layer geometry. Active directions include designing heterostructures for efficient photovoltaic and light-emitting devices, exploring moiré-pattern physics at twisted interfaces, and developing materials like black phosphorus that extend functionality into spectral and electronic regimes that transition metal dichalcogenides alone cannot reach.

Works

89,523

Total citations

2,391,800

Keywords

Two-Dimensional MaterialsVan der Waals HeterostructuresSemiconducting Transition Metal DichalcogenidesMonolayer MoS2Black PhosphorusExcitonic Effects