New Solids having Novel Interfaces with Tunable Properties

Ultra-thin atomic layers open a possibility for interacting with individual atoms in a material. At the same time, control over their synthesis, bulk production, large area single crystal synthesis, amenabilities in transfer processes etc. open avenues for engineering them for suitable applications. Recently, development of new solids from interfacing distinct atomic layers received tremendous scientific attention. A new solid from in-plane bond saturated and electronically dissimilar atomic sheets, such as graphene and hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), called van der Waals solids is one such solid where new and unprecedented phenomena are found to be emanating from the interface. This is a paradigm shift in the materials science since these interface induced phenomena are found to be tunable to large extends. Moreover, some of these tunable phenomena at the interfaces are useful in energy harvesting and storage applications. The solids generated by other means of interfacing atomic layers are also found to be excelling in various fields. My talk will be focusing on some of the engineering aspects of 2D materials for various fields.