Wang Jinghui, Yu Hongde, Zhou Xu, Liu Xiaozhi, Zhang Renjie, Lu Zhixing, Zheng Jingying, Gu Lin, Liu Kaihui, Wang Dong, Jiao Liying
Key Laboratory of Organic Optoelectronics and Molecular Engineering of the Ministry of Education, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China.
State Key Laboratory for Mesoscopic Physics, Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, School of Physics, Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Center for Nanochemisty, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.
Nat Commun. 2017 Aug 29;8(1):377. doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-00329-6.
Probing the crystallographic orientation of two-dimensional (2D) materials is essential to understand and engineer their properties. However, the nondestructive identification of the lattice orientations of various 2D materials remains a challenge due to their very thin nature. Here, we identify the crystallographic structures of various 2D atomic crystals using molecules as probes by utilizing orientation-dependent molecule-substrate interactions. We discover that the periodic atomic packing of 2D materials guides oleamide molecules to assemble into quasi-one-dimensional nanoribbons with specific alignments which precisely indicate the lattice orientations of the underlying materials. Using oleamide molecules as probes, we successfully identify the crystallographic orientations of ~12 different 2D materials without degrading their intrinsic properties. Our findings allow for the nondestructive identification of the lattice structure of various 2D atomic crystals and shed light on the functionalization of these 2D materials with supramolecular assembly.Identifying the crystallographic orientations of 2D materials is important, but methods to do so are typically destructive. Here, the authors show that the orientational dependency of self-assembled nanoribbons of oleamide molecules can be used to non-invasively probe the lattice orientations of various 2D substrates.
探究二维（2D）材料的晶体取向对于理解和调控其性质至关重要。然而，由于各种二维材料非常薄，对其晶格取向进行无损识别仍然是一项挑战。在此，我们通过利用取向依赖的分子-衬底相互作用，以分子为探针识别各种二维原子晶体的晶体结构。我们发现二维材料的周期性原子排列引导油酰胺分子组装成具有特定排列的准一维纳米带，这些排列精确指示了底层材料的晶格取向。使用油酰胺分子作为探针，我们成功识别了约12种不同二维材料的晶体取向，而不会降低其固有性质。我们的发现实现了对各种二维原子晶体晶格结构的无损识别，并为这些二维材料的超分子组装功能化提供了启示。识别二维材料的晶体取向很重要，但通常用于此目的的方法具有破坏性。在此，作者表明油酰胺分子自组装纳米带的取向依赖性可用于非侵入性探测各种二维衬底的晶格取向。
