A New 2D Material Called Hematene

2D materials are very popular. The most famous one so far is probably graphene but more and more 2D materials are being created. Newly we have an iron-based 2D material called Hematene

Ball-and-stick model of graphene, a material made from a single layer of graphite
By Jynto CC0, from Wikimedia Commons

Created by a team from the Rice University in Houston, Texas a team of scientists used hematite one of the common iron ores and using a process called liquid phase exfoliation to get a 2D material with a thickness of only 3 atoms. Making it even more unique Hematene is a non-van der Waal material. That means it’s not kept together by the “weak” van der Waal forces. Such materials with highly organized structures of atoms are still very rare.

The material is also ferromagnetic and has a good potential to become a photocatalyst used to transform light into chemical reactions and it absorbs a wide spectrum of electromagnetic rays - from UV rays up to yellow light. The scientists think it could be a powerful photocatalyst for taking water and turning it into hydrogen and oxygen. Other uses they can foresee is as an ultrathin magnetic material for spintronics.

Sources:

• https://www.nature.com/articles/s41565-018-0134-y
• https://phys.org/news/2018-07-two-dimensional-material-revolutionize-solar-fuel.html

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