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Title: Gas flow through atomic-scale apertures
Gas flows are often analyzed with the theoretical descriptions formulated over a century ago and constantly challenged by the emerging architectures of narrow channels, slits, and apertures. Here, we report atomic-scale defects in two-dimensional (2D) materials as apertures for gas flows at the ultimate quasi-0D atomic limit. We establish that pristine monolayer tungsten disulfide (WS 2 ) membranes act as atomically thin barriers to gas transport. Atomic vacancies from missing tungsten (W) sites are made in freestanding (WS 2 ) monolayers by focused ion beam irradiation and characterized using aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopy. WS 2 monolayers with atomic apertures are mechanically sturdy and showed fast helium flow. We propose a simple yet robust method for confirming the formation of atomic apertures over large areas using gas flows, an essential step for pursuing their prospective applications in various domains including molecular separation, single quantum emitters, sensing and monitoring of gases at ultralow concentrations.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2002477 1542707 1905045
PAR ID:
10256848
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Science Advances
Volume:
6
Issue:
51
ISSN:
2375-2548
Page Range / eLocation ID:
eabc7927
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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