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Ultrafast Acoustofluidic Exfoliation of Stratified Crystals
Author(s) -
Ahmed Heba,
Rezk Amgad R.,
Carey Benjamin J.,
Wang Yichao,
Mohiuddin Md,
Berean Kyle J.,
Russo Salvy P.,
Kalantarzadeh Kourosh,
Yeo Leslie Y.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
advanced materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 10.707
H-Index - 527
eISSN - 1521-4095
pISSN - 0935-9648
DOI - 10.1002/adma.201704756
Subject(s) - materials science , exfoliation joint , piezoelectricity , nanotechnology , microfluidics , ultrashort pulse , tungsten disulfide , resonator , crystal (programming language) , optoelectronics , graphene , composite material , optics , laser , physics , computer science , programming language
While the remarkable properties of 2D crystalline materials offer tremendous opportunities for their use in optics, electronics, energy systems, biotechnology, and catalysis, their practical implementation largely depends critically on the ability to exfoliate them from a 3D stratified bulk state. This goal nevertheless remains elusive, particularly in terms of a rapid processing method that facilitates high yield and dimension control. An ultrafast multiscale exfoliation method is reported which exploits the piezoelectricity of stratified materials that are noncentrosymmetric in nature to trigger electrically‐induced mechanical failure across weak grain boundaries associated with their crystal domain planes. In particular, it is demonstrated that microfluidic nebulization using high frequency acoustic waves exposes bulk 3D piezoelectric crystals such as molybdenum disulphide (MoS 2 ) and tungsten disulphide (WS 2 ) to a combination of extraordinarily large mechanical acceleration (≈10 8 m s −2 ) and electric field (≈10 7 V m −1 ). This results in the layered bulk material being rapidly cleaved into pristine quasi‐2D‐nanosheets that predominantly comprise single layers, thus constituting a rapid and high throughput chip‐scale method that opens new possibilities for scalable production and spray coating deposition.