title: Production of Two-Dimensional Nanomaterials via Liquid-Based Direct Exfoliation.
abstract: Tremendous efforts have been devoted to the synthesis and application of two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials due to their extraordinary and unique properties in electronics, photonics, catalysis, etc., upon exfoliation from their bulk counterparts. One of the greatest challenges that scientists are confronted with is how to produce large quantities of 2D nanomaterials of high quality in a commercially viable way. This review summarizes the state-of-the-art of the production of 2D nanomaterials using liquid-based direct exfoliation (LBE), a very promising and highly scalable wet approach for synthesizing high quality 2D nanomaterials in mild conditions. LBE is a collection of methods that directly exfoliates bulk layered materials into thin flakes of 2D nanomaterials in liquid media without any, or with a minimum degree of, chemical reactions, so as to maintain the high crystallinity of 2D nanomaterials. Different synthetic methods are categorized in the following, in which material characteristics including dispersion concentration, flake thickness, flake size and some applications are discussed in detail. At the end, we provide an overview of the advantages and disadvantages of such synthetic methods of LBE and propose future perspectives.
authors.affiliation: Nanotechnology Center, Institute of Textiles and Clothing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China.|Advanced Research Center for Fashion and Textiles, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Shenzhen Research Institute, Shenzhen, 518000, China.
authors.forename: Liyong
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Niu
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, CRANN and AMBER, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.
authors.forename: Jonathan N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Coleman
authors.affiliation: Center for Programmable Materials School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore, 639798, Singapore.
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Department of Energy Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Ulsan, 689-798, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Hyeonsuk
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.affiliation: Materials Science and Engineering, Rutgers University, 607 Taylor Road, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA.
authors.forename: Manish
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chhowalla
authors.affiliation: Nanotechnology Center, Institute of Textiles and Clothing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China.|Advanced Research Center for Fashion and Textiles, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Shenzhen Research Institute, Shenzhen, 518000, China.
authors.forename: Zijian
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zheng
keywords: exfoliation; layered materials; liquid synthesis; nanotechnologies, liquid media; two-dimensional nanomaterials