title: Ultrathin rhodium nanosheets.
abstract: Despite significant advances in the fabrication and applications of graphene-like materials, it remains a challenge to prepare single-layered metallic materials, which have great potential applications in physics, chemistry and material science. Here we report the fabrication of poly(vinylpyrrolidone)-supported single-layered rhodium nanosheets using a facile solvothermal method. Atomic force microscope shows that the thickness of a rhodium nanosheet is <4 Å. Electron diffraction and X-ray absorption spectroscopy measurements suggest that the rhodium nanosheets are composed of planar single-atom-layered sheets of rhodium. Density functional theory studies reveal that the single-layered Rh nanosheet involves a δ-bonding framework, which stabilizes the single-layered structure together with the poly(vinylpyrrolidone) ligands. The poly(vinylpyrrolidone)-supported single-layered rhodium nanosheet represents a class of metallic two-dimensional structures that might inspire further fundamental advances in physics, chemistry and material science.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Haohong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Duan
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, 117576 Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: Beijing National Center for Electron Microscopy and Laboratory of Advanced Materials, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Rong
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Chun-Ran
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Han-Shi
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Hongpan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rong
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Zhiqiang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Niu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Junjie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mao
authors.affiliation: Synchrotron Radiation Research Center, Nagoya University, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8603, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Asakura
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Molecular Engineering, Kyoto University, Kyoto 615-8510, Japan [2] Unit of Elements Strategy Initiative for Catalysis and Batteries, Kyoto University, Kyoto 615-8510, Japan.
authors.forename: Tsunehiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.affiliation: Institut des Sciences et Ingénierie Chimiques, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Paul Joseph
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Dyson
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Yadong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li