Since the discovery of graphene in 2004,¹ conjugated two-dimensional (2D) organic network structures have attracted immense interest due to their unusual electronic, optoelectronic, magnetic and electrocatalytic properties. In addition, their tunable structures and properties promise to offer more opportunities than graphene in various applications. However, even after years of intensive exploration of 2D materials in science and technology, facile and scalable methods capable of producing stable 2D network polymers with uniformly decorated heteroatoms with/without holes remain limited. To overcome these issues, new layered 2D organic network structures have been designed and synthesized. They have uniformly distributed heteroatoms,² holes with heteroatoms³ and transition metal nanoparticles on the holes.⁴ The structures were confirmed by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). Based on the stoichiometry of the basal plane, they were, respectively, designated C₃N, C₂N and M@C₂N (M = Co, Ni, Pd, Pt, Ru). Their electronic and electrical properties were evaluated by electrooptical and electrochemical measurements along with density-functional theory (DFT) calculations. The results suggest that these newly-developed 2D network polymers offer greater opportunities, from wet-chemistry to device applications.

References:

[1] Konstantin Novoselov, et al. Electric field effect in atomically thin carbon film. Science 2004, 306: 666.

[2] Javeed Mahmood, et al. Two-dimensional polyaniline (C₃N) from carbonized organic single crystals. Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, USA 2016, 113: 7414.

[3] Javeed Mahmood, et al. Nitrogenated holey two-dimensional structure. Nature Communications 2015, 6: 6486.

[4] Javeed Mahmood, et al. An efficient and pH-universal ruthenium-based catalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction. Nature Nanotechnology 2017, 12: 441.