Two-Dimensional Grain Boundaries By Design
Grain boundaries are borders that separate crystals of distinct orientations and are generally considered as inevitable by-products of crystalline regions nucleating at different locations during growth. The MIP team has predicted how grain boundaries in two-dimensional crystals can form within a single grain by introducing bumps onto the substrate – the “floor” on which a 2D crystal grows. A 2D crystal warps itself as growth advances past a bump, so much that it eventually runs into itself at an angle determined by steepness of the bump. Although aesthetically jarring, grain boundaries can endow 2D crystals with desirable mechanical, electronic, and magnetic properties. The predicted topographic control of grain boundaries offers the opportunity to engineer grain boundaries into 2D crystals with atomic-scale control.