Twisting 2D nanomaterials unlocks exotic quantum phases of matter

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Few chemical structures are as instantly recognisable as graphene. The orderly honeycomb construction of this two-dimensional carbon nanosheet has become very familiar to physicists and chemists alike.

Yet two decades after its discovery, graphene continues to surprise. When two sheets of graphene are layered together, then twisted out of atomic alignment with the other, the familiar honeycomb appearance dissolves.

As the twist angle changes, the complex patterns the two offset sheets create move from intricate mosaic-like arrangements to arrays of giant hexagons. In each case, the repeating nature of each sheet of graphene’s structure remains, but translated into periodic pattern of far grander scale.