Natalie Briggs (CWRU Chemistry)

Date: Thu. October 8th, 2026, 4:15 pm-5:15 pm
Location: Rockefeller 301

Reimagining the atomic-scale materials landscape

The synthesis and integration of thin-film materials has enabled numerous technologies,
ranging from the light-emitting diode, to the modern-day complementary
metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) transistor. Continued advances in technology
development, however, require new approaches to scale thin-films to atomic dimensions.
The class of naturally-layered, van der Waals (vdW) materials has seen significant study as a
path toward atomic-scale devices. While the wide range of properties accessible through
van der Waals materials allow for the fabrication all-2D devices, these materials can also be
harnessed as hosts to force non-layered materials to 2D. Here, I discuss a technique termed
Confinement Heteroepitaxy, in which the interface between 2D vdW and 3D materials is
harnessed to artificially confine metals to 2D. Through this technique, a variety of elemental
and quantum materials can be realized at the atomic scale. This talk highlights key
parameters needed to perform such interfacial synthesis, the ramifications of stabilizing
elemental materials in 2D form, and the possibility of extending of this technique to other,
mixed-dimensional interfaces.