Graphene—a single layer of carbon atoms—keeps revealing new physics a decade after most researchers thought its secrets were exhausted. This project pushes two-dimensional materials into territory where fundamental surprises are all but guaranteed, from the behaviour of electrons moving like a fluid to membranes that could sort molecules with atomic precision. The field of 2D materials has already spun off unexpected subfields: superlattices that host exotic superconductivity, capillaries that filter ions with angstrom-scale accuracy, and proton transport through single-atom-thick crystals. The applicant helped create several of those subfields. This proposal extends that track record into directions where the outcome is genuinely unknown—for instance, studying the Planckian Dirac plasma, a state of matter where electrons scatter as fast as quantum mechanics allows. If successful, the work will deepen understanding of how electrons behave when confined to two dimensions, and could eventually lead to membranes that separate molecules with exponentially higher selectivity than current materials. That would matter for water purification, gas separation, and chemical manufacturing. But the primary value here is fundamental: this is the kind of exploratory science that, like graphene itself, often delivers practical applications years after the basic discovery.
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Research on two-dimensional (2D) materials and their van der Waals assemblies has expanded dramatically reaching beyond condensed matter physics and materials science, into such distant disciplines as life sciences and particle physics. Despite being relatively mature, the field shows no sign of withering. Even graphene, the most extensively studied 2D crystal, regularly reincarnates itself and, somewhat surprisingly, delivers breakthroughs every few years. For example, a wealth of new phenomena has recently been found in graphene superlattices whereas magic-angle twisted graphene has been celebrated for revealing exotic superconductivity and strongly correlated states. Devices made from high-quality graphene also provide fertile grounds for uncovering new low-dimensional and many-body physics. The applicant has been involved in 2D materials research from the very beginning. Over the last decade, his group has continued to report high-profile results and even initiated several new subfields including graphene superlattices, electron hydrodynamics, water and ion permeation through graphene oxide laminates, molecular transport through angstrom-scale 2D capillaries and proton transport through monolayer crystals. Based on the latest experiments and technological advances in the applicant's group, this proposal aims to explore the field of 2D materials further by pushing its boundaries on several fronts. Some of the proposed directions such as, for example, studies of the Planckian Dirac plasma are practically guaranteed to bring surprises and possibly germinate new subfields, while other directions (e.g., exponentially selective 2D membranes) are more adventurous. The unifying goal of all the proposed directions is to explore opportunities that remain abundant within the field of 2D materials and their assemblies, trying to find something new, exciting and potentially useful.
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