2D gallium stripped from molten metal

The ever growing family of 2D materials has a new member: gallenene, an atomically thin version of gallium. Gallenene comes in a zigzag and a hexagonal structures, and has the unusual ability to change the properties of its solid support material, making it promising as a contact material in 2D devices. Another thing that is unusual about gallium is its melting point – just 30°C. This means gallenene cannot be easily exfoliated from its parent material like graphene. The other option, chemical vapour deposition – used to make germanene, stanene and others – only works with certain support materials.