Vacancy-plane-mediated exfoliation of sub-monolayer 2D pyrrhotite.

Conventional exfoliation exploits the anisotropy in bonding or compositional character to delaminate 2D materials with large lateral size and atomic thickness. This approach, however, limits the choice to layered host crystals with a specific composition. Here, we demonstrate the exfoliation of a crystal along planes of ordered vacancies as a novel route toward previously unattainable 2D crystal structures.

Impact of growth rate on graphene lattice-defect formation within a single crystalline domain.

Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is promising for the large scale production of graphene and other two-dimensional materials. Optimization of the CVD process for enhancing their quality is a focus of ongoing effort and significant progress has been made in decreasing the defectiveness associated with grain boundaries and nucleation spots. However, little is known about the quality and origin of structural defects in the outgrowing lattice which are present even in single-crystalline material and represent the limit of current optimization efforts.