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When oxygen atoms bind to a graphite surface, they fall into line and make bridges across carbon atoms. This is the spearhead of a chemical attack in which the atomic arrangement of solid carbon is torn apart.

Borophene, or 2D boron, is highly polymorphic with many predicted lattice arrangements, complicating the identification of its atomic structure. Here, the authors use functionalized-tip scanning probe microscopy to directly resolve the atomic lattice structures of several borophene polymorphs.

Two-dimensional (2D) crystals offer exciting opportunities to study dislocations, including their migration dynamics. Here, the authors show the local strain field at the dislocation core and dislocation motion leading to grain boundary migration in a monolayer of tungsten disulphide.

The authors find low-energy magnetic excitations and a flat band near the Fermi level in kagome metal superconductor CsCr3Sb5 by angle-resolved photoemission and resonant inelastic X-ray scattering. They suggest that the flat band plays a role in the emergence of charge/magnetic order at low temperatures.

Activated carbon has been widely used for PFAS adsorption, but this method generates secondary solid wastes. The flash Joule heating approach realizes mineralization of PFAS and generation of useful flash graphene in waste granular activated carbon.

Flash recycling method can achieve nondestructive cathode regeneration effectively with higher environmental and economic benefits over traditional destructive recycling processes.

Borophene grown under suitable conditions can have phase intermixing, with line defects in each phase adopting the unit structure of the other phase. Such 1D defects self-assemble into 2D periodic arrays, constituting new phases of borophene.

Sustainable end-of-life management strategies for fibre-reinforced plastics are urgently needed from a sustainability perspective. Here the authors develop a solvent-free flash upcycling method, enabling ultrafast and efficient upcycling of fibre-reinforced plastics to fulfil such a need.

Observations of strong electron correlation effects have been mostly confined to compounds containing f orbital electrons. Now, the study of the 3d pyrochlore metal CuV₂S₄ reveals that similar effects can be induced by flat-band engineering.

The bandgaps of bilayers of two-dimensional C₃N can be modulated by controlling the stacking order of the layers or by applying an electric field.

A borophene polymorph with two covalently bonded boron monolayers was synthesized, expanding the physical properties of borophene and filling the gap between monolayer borophene and icosahedron-based bulk boron.

Large, bilayer graphene single crystals can be grown by oxygen-activated chemical vapour deposition.

Grain boundaries in polycrystalline graphene are an obstacle to electron transport. However, cunning refinements in growth techniques push the limits to obtain super-sized single-crystal domains.

Here, the authors present a resonance theory to describe the bonding configuration of flat boron materials without quantum calculation. Like aromaticity theory in carbon, it allows to intuitively understand the stability and properties of boron-related materials

The large-scale synthesis of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) with controlled chirality—which could find applications in fields such as electronics—remains a great challenge. It is now shown that the growth rates of SWCNTs are directly proportional to their chiral angles, suggesting a route towards selective synthesis based on kinetic control.

Controlling the kinetics and thermodynamics of electrochemical processes is essential to achieve high-performance multielectron reduction. Here, the authors report laser-induced copper bipyramids with abundant nanograins and controlled tip angles for enhanced multielectron CO₂ and nitrate reduction.

The indeterminacy of edge or surface energy — unknowable for low-symmetry crystals — is avoided by an algebraic system complemented with closure equations, which enables computing algorithms to predict the equilibrium shape of any crystal.

The straightforward and scalable synthesis and patterning of graphene-based nanomaterials remains a technological challenge. Here, the authors use a CO₂infrared laser, under ambient conditions, to directly produce and pattern porous graphene films with three-dimensional networks from commercial polymer films.

Flat electronic bands and the ensuing correlated phases have been explored in twisted 2D bilayers and in periodically buckled graphene. Here the authors propose a strategy to realize 1D flat bands with a tunable bandwidth in a 2D semiconductor deposited on a patterned substrate with a non-zero Gaussian curvature.

High-surface-area corundum are used in ceramics and catalyst supports, yet the synthesis is hampered by high energy barrier and aggregation. Here the authors report the ultrafast synthesis of corundum nanoparticles via the resistive hotspot triggered phase transformation in electric heating process.

The epitaxial growth of single-crystal hexagonal boron nitride monolayers on a copper (111) thin film across a sapphire wafer suggests a route to the broad adoption of two-dimensional layered semiconductor materials in industry.

Early theories suggested the possibility of atomically thin boron layers, but electron-deficient boron favours multicentre bonds and assembles into various polymorphs, making the synthesis of such layers challenging. Now, in two independent experiments, the deposition of atomic boron has offered this long-sought material on a silver platter.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are persistent and bioaccumulative pollutants in soil. Here, the authors developed a rapid electrothermal mineralization method that can efficiently mineralize PFAS while maintaining soil properties.

Here, the authors screen hundreds of 2D materials and identify the candidates where spontaneous excitonic condensation mediated by purely electronic interaction should occur in true equilibrium. Hetero-pairs Sb₂Te₂Se/BiTeCl, Hf₂N₂I₂/Zr₂N₂Cl₂, and LiAlTe₂/BiTeI emerge as promising.

Carbon nanotubes have promising applications in new technologies, but a practical control of their chirality is challenging. Here, Artyukhov et al.show that the chirality is determined by a trade-off between faster growth of chiral nanotubes and preference for achiral tubes during nucleation.

There is interest in hexagonal boron nitride and hexagonal boron carbonitride in electronics applications, but synthesizing them with high quality is challenging. Here, chemical vapour deposition graphene was chemically converted to hexagonal boron nitride and hexagonal boron carbonitride with both high on-off ratios and mobilities.

Transition metal dichalcogenides demonstrate fascinating capabilities for electrocatalytic H₂ evolution, although the activities vary widely depending on nanomaterial sites available. Here, authors show the grain boundaries of atomically thin MoS₂ to be especially active sites for H₂ evolution.

The semiconductor–electrolyte interface dominates the behaviour of semiconductor electrocatalysts. Inspired by ion-controlled electronics a universal self-gating phenomenon is now proposed to explain transport modulation during electrocatalytic reaction.

Metal dichalcogenides are promising electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution, but more active and stable materials are desired. Here the authors demonstrate that H-TaS₂ and H-NbS₂ possess high basal-plane activity that increases with cycling through changes in the morphology of the catalysts.

Nanoscale carbides provide access to ultra-strong ceramics and show activity as high-performance catalysts. Here, the authors report a flash Joule heating process for the ultrafast, general synthesis of various transition metal carbides nanocrystals with phase controllability.

Flash Joule heating of inexpensive carbon sources is used to produce gram-scale quantities of high-quality graphene in under a second, without the need for a furnace, solvents or reactive gases.

Mechanical cleavage of a single atomic layer from a bulk sample is a simple way to achieve a two-dimensional material. Here, the authors demonstrate an in situstudy in which they can peel off a certain number of atomic layers of molybdenum disulphide, and reveal the layer-dependent mechanics.

Large-size monolayer molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) has recently been produced via chemical vapour deposition (CVD), yet its structures and physical properties are yet to be fully explored. Here, the authors study the growth-induced strain in CVD-grown MoS₂ and strain-based bandgap engineering of MoS₂.

The controlled vapour phase synthesis of molybdenum disulphide atomic layers and a fundamental mechanism for the nucleation, growth and grain boundary formation in its crystalline monolayers are now reported. Using high-resolution electron microscopy imaging, the atomic structure of the grains and their boundaries in the polycrystalline molybdenum disulphide atomic layers are examined, and the primary mechanisms for grain-boundary formation are evaluated.

Vapour growth of WS₂/MoS₂ two-dimensional materials at low and high temperature allows the synthesis of in-plane lateral heterojunctions and vertically stacked bilayers, respectively, with atomically sharp interfaces.

Molten-salt-assisted chemical vapour deposition is used to synthesize a wide variety of two-dimensional transition-metal chalcogenides.

Two-dimensional (2D) materials, despite their small thickness, can display chirality that enables prominent asymmetric optical, electrical transport, and magnetic properties. This Perspective discusses the intriguing physics enabled by the structural chirality and the possible ways to create and control chirality in 2D materials.

Foot-long continuous single-crystal-like monolayer graphene films were fabricated on polycrystalline substrates by evolutionary selection growth, which resembles the Czochralski process in 2D geometry.

This Review discusses recent progress in bioinspired nanocomposite design, emphasizing the role of hierarchical structuring at distinct length scales to create multifunctional, lightweight and robust structural materials for diverse technological applications.

This Perspective discusses recent progress and future opportunities for borophene research.