Nanotechnology Now - Press Release: Engineering the boundary between 2D and 3D materials: Cutting-edge microscope helps reveal ways to control the electronic properties of atomically thin materials nanotech-now.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nanotech-now.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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In recent years, engineers have found ways to modify the properties of some two- dimensional materials, which are just one or a few atoms thick, by stacking two layers together and rotating one slightly in relation to the other. This creates what are known as moiré patterns, where tiny shifts in the alignment of atoms between the two sheets create larger-scale patterns. It also changes the way electrons move through the material, in potentially useful ways.
But for practical applications, such two-dimensional materials must at some point connect with the ordinary world of 3D materials. An international team led by MIT researchers has now come up with a way of imaging what goes on at these interfaces, down to the level of individual atoms, and of correlating the moiré patterns at the 2D-3D boundary with the resulting changes in the material s properties.