Exfoliation of a non-van der Waals material from iron ore hematite

Author(s):Show less -

Balan, Aravind Puthirath ^{[1, 2]} ; Radhakrishnan, Sruthi ^[1] ; Woellner, Cristiano F. ^{[3, 4]} ; Sinha, Shyam K. ^[5] ; Deng, Liangzi ^[6] ; de los Reyes, Carlos ^[7] ; Rao, Banki Manmadha ^[8] ; Paulose, Maggie ^[8] ; Neupane, Ram ^[8] ; Apte, Amey ^[1] ; Kochat, Vidya ^[1] ; Vajtai, Robert ^[1] ; Harutyunyan, Avetik R. ^[9] ; Chu, Ching-Wu ^{[10, 6]} ; Costin, Gelu ^[11] ; Galvao, Douglas S. ^{[3, 4]} ; Marti, Angel A. ^[7] ; van Aken, Peter A. ^[5] ; Varghese, Oomman K. ^[8] ; Tiwary, Chandra Sekhar ^[1] ; Iyer, Anantharaman Malie Madom Ramaswamy ^{[1, 2]} ; Ajayan, Pulickel M. ^[1]

Affiliation:Show less -

^[1] Rice Univ, Dept Mat Sci & NanoEngn, Houston, TX 77005 - USA

^[2] Cochin Univ Sci & Technol, Dept Phys, Kochi, Kerala - India

^[3] Univ Estadual Campinas, UNICAMP, Ctr Computat Engn & Sci, Campinas, SP - Brazil

^[4] Univ Estadual Campinas, UNICAMP, Appl Phys Dept, Campinas, SP - Brazil

^[5] Max Planck Inst Solid State Res, Stuttgart Ctr Electron Microscopy, Stuttgart - Germany

^[6] Univ Houston, Texas Ctr Superconduct, Houston, TX - USA

^[7] Rice Univ, Dept Chem, Houston, TX - USA

^[8] Univ Houston, Dept Phys, Houston, TX - USA

^[9] Honda Res Inst USA Inc, Columbus, OH - USA

^[10] Lawrence Berkeley Natl Lab, Berkeley, CA - USA

^[11] Rice Univ, Dept Earth Environm & Planetary Sci, Houston, TX - USA

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: NATURE NANOTECHNOLOGY; v. 13, n. 7, p. 602+, JUL 2018.
• Web of Science Citations: 46

Abstract

With the advent of graphene, the most studied of all two-dimensional materials, many inorganic analogues have been synthesized and are being exploited for novel applications. Several approaches have been used to obtain large-grain, high-quality materials. Naturally occurring ores, for example, are the best precursors for obtaining highly ordered and large-grain atomic layers by exfoliation. Here, we demonstrate a new two-dimensional material `hematene' obtained from natural iron ore hematite (alpha-Fe2O3), which is isolated by means of liquid exfoliation. The two-dimensional morphology of hematene is confirmed by transmission electron microscopy. Magnetic measurements together with density functional theory calculations confirm the ferromagnetic order in hematene while its parent form exhibits antiferromagnetic order. When loaded on titania nanotube arrays, hematene exhibits enhanced visible light photocatalytic activity. Our study indicates that photogenerated electrons can be transferred from hematene to titania despite a band alignment unfavourable for charge transfer. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 13/08293-7 - CCES - Center for Computational Engineering and Sciences
• Grantee: Munir Salomao Skaf
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Research, Innovation and Dissemination Centers - RIDC
• FAPESP's process: 16/12340-9 - Structural and mechanical properties of carbon-based foams
• Grantee: Cristiano Francisco Woellner
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor