Gas flow through atomic-scale apertures

Jothi Priyanka Thiruraman; Sidra Abbas Dar; Paul Masih Das; Nasim Hassani; Mehdi Neek-Amal; Ashok Keerthi; Marija Drndić; Boya Radha

doi:10.1126/sciadv.abc7927

Gas flow through atomic-scale apertures

Sci Adv. 2020 Dec 18;6(51):eabc7927. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abc7927. Print 2020 Dec.

Authors

Jothi Priyanka Thiruraman^{1

2}, Sidra Abbas Dar^{3

4

5}, Paul Masih Das¹, Nasim Hassani⁶, Mehdi Neek-Amal^{6

7}, Ashok Keerthi^{8

9}, Marija Drndić¹⁰, Boya Radha^{11

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
² Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
³ Department of Physics and Astronomy, School of Natural Sciences, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK.
⁴ National Graphene Institute, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK.
⁵ Department of Basic Sciences and Humanities, University of Engineering and Technology, New Campus, GT Road Lahore, Kala Shah Kaku, Pakistan.
⁶ Department of Physics, Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University, 16875-163 Lavizan, Tehran, Iran.
⁷ Universiteit Antwerpen, Groenenborgerlaan 171, B-2020 Antwerpen, Belgium.
⁸ National Graphene Institute, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK. radha.boya@manchester.ac.uk drndic@physics.upenn.edu ashok.keerthi@manchester.ac.uk.
⁹ Department of Chemistry, School of Natural Sciences, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK.
¹⁰ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. radha.boya@manchester.ac.uk drndic@physics.upenn.edu ashok.keerthi@manchester.ac.uk.
¹¹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, School of Natural Sciences, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK. radha.boya@manchester.ac.uk drndic@physics.upenn.edu ashok.keerthi@manchester.ac.uk.

PMID: 33355128
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abc7927

Abstract

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 (WS₂) membranes act as atomically thin barriers to gas transport. Atomic vacancies from missing tungsten (W) sites are made in freestanding (WS₂) monolayers by focused ion beam irradiation and characterized using aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopy. WS₂ 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.

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