ABSTRACT: Two-dimensional (2D) materials, such as graphene, layered chalcogenides, and oxides, are an exciting new class of materials with extraordinary physical and chemical behaviors. These high-performance materials have the potential to enable an entire fleet of new technological applications ranging from electronics to photonics. To realize this potential requires (i) the synthesis of high-quality 2D materials, (ii) a broad spectrum of chemical modification techniques, and (iii) a thorough understanding of how these modifications control the material physics.

In this presentation, I will show new synthetic methods to create high-quality 2D chalcogenide materials including a new 2D semiconductor, silicon telluride (Si2Te3). I will present a novel chemical method to reversibly intercalate high concentrations of multiple, zero-valent atoms in 2D materials. The zero-valent nature of the intercalant species allows for high-density intercalation of metal atoms (Ag, Au, Co, Cu, Fe, In, Ni, and Sn) effectively doubling the number of atoms of the material system. This results in unique physical behaviors such as tunable charge density waves and alters acoustic phonon propagation in these materials. Finally, I will show how this work can be used for achieving opto-electronic application such as transparent electrodes and color-changing Smart Materials.