Introducing atomic-scale defects and holes in 2D materials changes their electrical and optical properties. When 2D materials are suspended, vacancies make the membranes permeable to ions and molecules in liquid or gas phases, allowing transport studies at atomic scales. Atomic defects can also be interesting ingredients in quantum devices such as defects and holes in 2D boron nitride and 2D ferromagnets. Angstrom-size holes can also allow the passage of water molecules but block the larger hydrated salt ions and can effectively desalinate water. Raman peak shifts combined with TEM, provide a comprehensive approach to characterize the holes and transport through them. When molecules are driven through 2D nanopores in solution, they can perturb the ion current flow through the pore, from which molecule’s physical and chemical properties can be inferred. DNA other biomolecules can be detected in this way. Thanks to advanced materials, device designs and custom electronics, the temporal and spatial resolution for their detection has been rapidly improving. This interdisciplinary work advances several disciplines including in situ electron microscopy.
 
[1] Marija Drndić, Nature Review Physics 3, 606, 2021.
[2] Joshua Chen, Adrian Balan, Paul Masih Das, Jothi Priyanka Thiruraman, Marija Drndić, Ultramicroscopy, 113249, 2021.  
[3] Yung-Chien Chou, Joshua Chen, Chih-Yuan Lin, Marija Drndić, Journal of Chemical Physics 154, 105012, 2021.
[4] Jothi Priyanka Thiruraman, Paul Masih Das and Marija Drndić, ACS Nano 14, 11831, 2020.   

 

LOCATION:  Institute of Physics, 3rd wing