New materials enabled by programmable two-dimensional chemical reactions across van der Waals gap

Chemical reactions between solids are fundamental in areas as diverse as catalysis, information storage, pharmaceuticals, electronics manufacturing, advanced ceramics, and solar energy, to name just a few. Controlling the spatial extent of solid-state reactions at the nanoscale will enable development of materials, programmed on an atomic level, which will facilitate many emerging applications like bioinspired smart batteries and artificial synapses for future neuromorphic electronics. However, currently, there are no chemistry methods which allow precise spatial control at the nanoscale, limiting progress towards the programmable matter. Here I propose a completely new way to create novel materials using two-dimensional (2D) chemical reactions at the atomically-defined interfaces between crystalline solids. Usually, reactions between macroscopic solids are hindered as their large dimensions prevent placing them close enough to each other to support chemical transformations. Thus, just a few years ago, the task of placing two atomically flat crystals within angstrom proximity of each other, to initiate chemical interactions between them, was impossible to realise. This situation has changed dramatically with the advent of van der Waals technology - disassembly of various layered crystals into individual atom- or molecule-thick layers followed by a highly-controlled reassembly of these layers into artificial heterostructures. Building on our recent progress in van der Waals technology, I aim to realise interplanar chemical reactions between highly-crystalline solids in precisely controllable conditions using temperature, electric and magnetic fields, light, sound, pressure, and mechanical forces as means of control. Using digital control of 2D chemistry, mechanics, and electronics at the nanoscale, I and my team will develop programmable matter that actively responds to external and internal stimuli by adjusting their properties on an atomic level.