Focus Issue: Journal of Materials Research

Heterogeneity in Beyond Graphene 2D Materials
Issue Date: June 2020
Submission Deadline: November 1, 2019

Van der Waals (vdW) layered crystals and two-dimensional (2D) materials have shown remarkable physical and chemical properties which shows a potentially large impact towards future electronics and optoelectronics devices, as well as quantum information science and energy applications. These atomically thin materials, however, display remarkable heterogeneities and imperfections. At atomic scales, 2D sheets contain point defects including vacancies, intentional dopants, and/or impurities. At mesoscopic level, these imperfections include misoriented grains and layers, mixed phases, strain and charge transfer induced by the substrate, absorbates and/or the dielectric environment. While these heterogeneities are of manufacturing concern for controllable, uniform, and large area synthesis of these material, they also present new opportunities that could lead to new abilities in tailoring the functionalities of 2D and layered materials for future transformative technologies. To fully reveal these opportunities, a synergistic strategy to fundamentally study these 2D materials must be achieved, as well as new characterization approaches must be developed and implemented.

This JMR focus issue serves to report the latest advances in the area of 2D and layered materials with a focus on fundamentally understanding the role of heterogeneities in these materials and heterostructures on their mesoscopic properties and functionalities,  the development of paths to control the formation of these heterogeneities through synthesis and processing, and the emerging properties that can be accessed and used in novel application.

Contributing papers are solicited in the following areas:

• Novel properties emerging from heterogeneity.
• Tailoring specific heterogeneities, such as phase, defect type, dopants, and heterostructures through controlled synthesis and processing.
• Advances in the characterization of heterogeneity including spatially- and time-resolved spectroscopy and microscopy.
• Predictive modeling and theoretical simulation.

Guest Editors: 

Kai Xiao, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USA
Zakaria Y. Al Balushi, University of California, Berkeley, USA
Sefaattin Tongay, Arizona State University, USA

To be considered for this issue, new and previously unpublished results significant to the development of this field should be presented. The manuscripts must be submitted via the JMR electronic submission system by November 1, 2019. Manuscripts submitted after this deadline will not be considered for the issue due to time constraints on the review process. Please select “Focus issue: Heterogeneity in Beyond Graphene 2D Materials” as the Focus Issue designation. Note our manuscript submission minimum length of 3250 words, excluding figures, captions, and references, with at least 6 and no more than 10 figures and tables combined. Review articles may be longer but must be pre-approved by proposal to the Guest Editors via jmr@mrs.org. The proposal form and author instructions may be found at www.mrs.org/jmr-instructions. All manuscripts will be reviewed in a normal but expedited fashion. Papers submitted by the deadline and subsequently accepted will be published in the Focus Issue. Other manuscripts that are acceptable but cannot be included in the issue will be scheduled for publication in a subsequent issue of JMR.

Please direct questions to jmr@mrs.org.