Chaitanya A. Gadre

May 13, 2024 | nature.com | Amy Wu |Joshua L. Wang |Kenji Watanabe |Takashi Taniguchi |Michael T. Pettes |Chaitanya A. Gadre | +5 more

AbstractConfining materials to two-dimensional forms changes the behaviour of the electrons and enables the creation of new devices. However, most materials are challenging to produce as uniform, thin crystals. Here we present a synthesis approach where thin crystals are grown in a nanoscale mould defined by atomically flat van der Waals (vdW) materials. By heating and compressing bismuth in a vdW mould made of hexagonal boron nitride, we grow ultraflat bismuth crystals less than 10 nm thick.