Properties of two-dimensional graphene-like materials

With the discovery of graphene, the interest in other two-dimensional (2D) layered materials became renewed. Owing to their variety, since they can range from being metallic to semiconducting or insulating in nature, transition metal dichalchogenides have been one of the most studied families of materials. Furthermore, it has been shown that they are unstable against folding, forming nanotubes and fullerene-like nanoparticles. Due to their weak interlayer bonding, they are perfect candidates for thinning into monolayer flakes. Their ability to form structures of different dimensionalities opens up a broad range of potential applications and research possibilities. While nanotubes and nanoparticles of these materials have already been implemented in industry, mainly as lubricants, the various potential applications of their 2D counterparts are still under investigation. So far, their prospects for implementation are mainly associated with the bandgap transformation from indirect to direct as their thickness decreases to single layers, opening up dramatic enhancement of photoluminescence quantum yield. With many more interesting properties of 2D layered materials being discovered, it can be expected that the field will grow significantly in the future.