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Proton transport through nanoscale corrugations in two-dimensional crystals

Defect-free graphene is impermeable to all atoms(1–5) and ions(6,7) under ambient conditions. Experiments that can resolve gas flows of a few atoms per hour through micrometre-sized membranes found that monocrystalline graphene is completely impermeable to helium, the smallest atom(2,5). Such membra...

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Autores principales: Wahab, O. J., Daviddi, E., Xin, B., Sun, P. Z., Griffin, E., Colburn, A. W., Barry, D., Yagmurcukardes, M., Peeters, F. M., Geim, A. K., Lozada-Hidalgo, M., Unwin, P. R.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10447238/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37612394
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06247-6
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author Wahab, O. J.
Daviddi, E.
Xin, B.
Sun, P. Z.
Griffin, E.
Colburn, A. W.
Barry, D.
Yagmurcukardes, M.
Peeters, F. M.
Geim, A. K.
Lozada-Hidalgo, M.
Unwin, P. R.
author_facet Wahab, O. J.
Daviddi, E.
Xin, B.
Sun, P. Z.
Griffin, E.
Colburn, A. W.
Barry, D.
Yagmurcukardes, M.
Peeters, F. M.
Geim, A. K.
Lozada-Hidalgo, M.
Unwin, P. R.
author_sort Wahab, O. J.
collection PubMed
description Defect-free graphene is impermeable to all atoms(1–5) and ions(6,7) under ambient conditions. Experiments that can resolve gas flows of a few atoms per hour through micrometre-sized membranes found that monocrystalline graphene is completely impermeable to helium, the smallest atom(2,5). Such membranes were also shown to be impermeable to all ions, including the smallest one, lithium(6,7). By contrast, graphene was reported to be highly permeable to protons, nuclei of hydrogen atoms(8,9). There is no consensus, however, either on the mechanism behind the unexpectedly high proton permeability(10–14) or even on whether it requires defects in graphene’s crystal lattice(6,8,15–17). Here, using high-resolution scanning electrochemical cell microscopy, we show that, although proton permeation through mechanically exfoliated monolayers of graphene and hexagonal boron nitride cannot be attributed to any structural defects, nanoscale non-flatness of two-dimensional membranes greatly facilitates proton transport. The spatial distribution of proton currents visualized by scanning electrochemical cell microscopy reveals marked inhomogeneities that are strongly correlated with nanoscale wrinkles and other features where strain is accumulated. Our results highlight nanoscale morphology as an important parameter enabling proton transport through two-dimensional crystals, mostly considered and modelled as flat, and indicate that strain and curvature can be used as additional degrees of freedom to control the proton permeability of two-dimensional materials.
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spelling pubmed-104472382023-08-25 Proton transport through nanoscale corrugations in two-dimensional crystals Wahab, O. J. Daviddi, E. Xin, B. Sun, P. Z. Griffin, E. Colburn, A. W. Barry, D. Yagmurcukardes, M. Peeters, F. M. Geim, A. K. Lozada-Hidalgo, M. Unwin, P. R. Nature Article Defect-free graphene is impermeable to all atoms(1–5) and ions(6,7) under ambient conditions. Experiments that can resolve gas flows of a few atoms per hour through micrometre-sized membranes found that monocrystalline graphene is completely impermeable to helium, the smallest atom(2,5). Such membranes were also shown to be impermeable to all ions, including the smallest one, lithium(6,7). By contrast, graphene was reported to be highly permeable to protons, nuclei of hydrogen atoms(8,9). There is no consensus, however, either on the mechanism behind the unexpectedly high proton permeability(10–14) or even on whether it requires defects in graphene’s crystal lattice(6,8,15–17). Here, using high-resolution scanning electrochemical cell microscopy, we show that, although proton permeation through mechanically exfoliated monolayers of graphene and hexagonal boron nitride cannot be attributed to any structural defects, nanoscale non-flatness of two-dimensional membranes greatly facilitates proton transport. The spatial distribution of proton currents visualized by scanning electrochemical cell microscopy reveals marked inhomogeneities that are strongly correlated with nanoscale wrinkles and other features where strain is accumulated. Our results highlight nanoscale morphology as an important parameter enabling proton transport through two-dimensional crystals, mostly considered and modelled as flat, and indicate that strain and curvature can be used as additional degrees of freedom to control the proton permeability of two-dimensional materials. Nature Publishing Group UK 2023-08-23 2023 /pmc/articles/PMC10447238/ /pubmed/37612394 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06247-6 Text en © The Author(s) 2023 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) .
spellingShingle Article
Wahab, O. J.
Daviddi, E.
Xin, B.
Sun, P. Z.
Griffin, E.
Colburn, A. W.
Barry, D.
Yagmurcukardes, M.
Peeters, F. M.
Geim, A. K.
Lozada-Hidalgo, M.
Unwin, P. R.
Proton transport through nanoscale corrugations in two-dimensional crystals
title Proton transport through nanoscale corrugations in two-dimensional crystals
title_full Proton transport through nanoscale corrugations in two-dimensional crystals
title_fullStr Proton transport through nanoscale corrugations in two-dimensional crystals
title_full_unstemmed Proton transport through nanoscale corrugations in two-dimensional crystals
title_short Proton transport through nanoscale corrugations in two-dimensional crystals
title_sort proton transport through nanoscale corrugations in two-dimensional crystals
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10447238/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37612394
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06247-6
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