Liquid Exfoliation of Icosahedral Quasicrystals

Author(s):Show less -

Yadav, Thakur Prasad ^{[1, 2]} ; Woellner, Cristiano F. ^[3] ; Sinha, Shyam K. ^[4] ; Sharifi, Tiva ^[1] ; Apte, Amey ^[1] ; Mukhopadhyay, Nilay Krishna ^[5] ; Srivastava, Onkar Nath ^[2] ; Vajtai, Robert ^[1] ; Galvao, Douglas S. ^[3] ; Tiwary, Chandra Sekhar ^{[1, 6]} ; Ajayan, Pulickel M. ^[1]

Affiliation

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

^[2] Banaras Hindu Univ, Inst Sci, Dept Phys, Varanasi 221005, Uttar Pradesh - India

^[3] State Univ Campinas UNICAMP, Appl Phys Dept, BR-13083859 Campinas, SP - Brazil

^[4] Indian Inst Sci, Dept Mat Engn, Bangalore 560012, Karnataka - India

^[5] Banaras Hindu Univ, Indian Inst Technol, Dept Met Engn, Varanasi 221005, Uttar Pradesh - India

^[6] Indian Inst Technol, Mat Sci & Engn, Gandhinagar 382355 - India

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS; v. 28, n. 26 JUN 27 2018.
• Web of Science Citations: 2

Abstract

The realization of quasicrystals has attracted a considerable attention due to their unusual structures and properties. The concept of quasicrystals in the atomically thin materials is even more appealing due to the in-plane covalent bonds and weak interlayer interactions. Here, it is demonstrated that 2D quasicrystals can be created/isolated from bulk phases because of long-range interlayer ordered aperiodic arrangements. An ultrasonication-assisted exfoliation of polygrained icosahedral Al-Pd-Mn quasicrystals at room temperature shows the formation of a large area of mono- and few layers in threefold quasicrystalline plane. The formation of these layers from random grain orientation consistently indicates that the threefold plane is most stable in comparison to the twofold and fivefold planes in icosahedral clusters. The above experimental observations are further supported with help of theoretical simulations. The mono- and few-layered aperiodic planes render plentiful active sites for the catalysis of hydrogen evolution reaction. The threefold 2D quasicrystalline plane exhibits a hydrogen evolution reaction overpotential of approximate to 100 mV (160 times less than bulk counterpart) and long-term durability. These systems constitute the first demonstration of quasicrystalline monolayer ordering in a free-standing thin layer without requiring the support of periodic or aperiodic substrate. (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: 14/24547-1 - Theoretical investigations on growth and fracture mechanisms of graphene-based nanostructures
• Grantee: Cristiano Francisco Woellner
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral