Current understanding and emerging applications of 3D crumpling mediated 2D material-liquid interactions

Abstract

Three dimensional (3D) crumpling of two dimensional (2D) materials provides new opportunities to modulate mechanical, optical, surface, and chemical properties. However, investigation of the effect of 3D crumpling on 2D material liquid interaction has been limited. In this perspective, we will review crumple/texture induced heterogeneous surface properties including chemical modification, energy corrugation, and electronic structure perturbation which may modulate fluid interaction. We will then describe simulations of fluid interaction in systems resembling 3D textured 2D materials, principally nanotubes, which have begun to substantiate perturbations to fluid structure driven by texture induced modification of the 2D material surface. Furthermore, we will detail current experimental understanding of how texture induced modulation of interactions with pure solvent affect macroscale wetting characteristics including textured driven transitions in water contact from Wentzel to Cassie Baxter states. Following this discussion of how texturing affects the interaction of 2D materials with pure solvent, we will detail cutting edge explorations of how texturing modifies interaction with ions and other chemical species dispersed in solvent phases. Particular focus will be placed on recent simulations of aqueous phase molecular interaction with crumpled 2D materials which show that crumpling increases the thickness of the electrical double layer (EDL) formed near a 2D material surface. This increased EDL thickness has allowed for the development of biomolecule sensors with gigantic sensitivity and the monitoring and templating of cells including neurons and myotubes. Sill, considerable work is needed to elucidate the effect of different crumpling geometries on the local properties of the full range of 2D materials, how these variation in local properties perturb fluid structure and molecular interaction, and how these tuned interactions enable diverse opportunities such as sensing, energy storage, and control of biological interaction.