Several studies have predicted that the water splitting reaction could be catalyzed by certain groups of 2D materials—each measuring just a few atoms thick. One particularly promising group are named 2D Janus materials, whose two sides each feature a different molecular composition.

Through new calculations detailed in The European Physical Journal B, Junfeng Ren and colleagues at Shandong Normal University in China present a new group of four 2D Janus materials, which could be especially well suited to the task.

Since hydrogen releases an abundance of energy when combusted, with only water as a byproduct, it is now widely seen as an excellent alternative to fossil fuels. Splitting water molecules involves a redox reaction, where electrons and holes participate in reduction and oxidation reactions.

Superconductivity can be switched on and off in “magic-angle” graphene using a short electrical pulse, according to new work by researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Until now, such switching could only be achieved by sweeping a continuous electric field across the material. The new finding could help in the development of novel superconducting electronics such as memory elements for use in two-dimensional (2D) materials-based circuits.

Graphene is a 2D crystal of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb pattern. Even on its own, this so-called “wonder material” boasts many exceptional properties, including high electrical conductivity as charge carriers (electrons and holes) zoom through the carbon lattice at very high speeds.

In 2018, researchers led by Pablo Jarillo-Herrero of MIT found that when two such sheets are placed on top of each other with a small angle misalignment, things become even more fascinating. In this twisted bilayer configuration, the sheets form a structure known as a moiré superlattice, and when the twist angle between them reaches the (theoretically predicted) “magic angle” of 1.08°, the material begins to show properties such as superconductivity at low temperatures – that is, it conducts electricity without any resistance.

Researchers at Harvard University, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Arizona State University, and other institutes in the United States have recently observed an antiferromagnetic metal phase in electron-doped NdNiO₃ a material known to be a non-collinear antiferromagnet (i.e., exhibiting an onset of antiferromagnetic ordering that is concomitant with a transition into an insulating state).

“Previous works on the rare-earth nickelates (RNiO₃) have found them to host a rather exotic phase of magnetism known as a ‘noncollinear antiferromagnet,’” Qi Song, Spencer Doyle, Luca Moreschini and Julia A. Mundy, Four of the researchers who carried out the study, told Phys.org.

“This type of magnet has unique potential applications in the field of spintronics, yet rare-earth nickelates famously change spontaneously from being metallic to insulating at the exact same temperature that this noncollinear antiferromagnet phase turns on. We wanted to see if we could somehow modify one of these materials in a way so that it remained metallic, but still had this interesting magnetic phase.”