A new study demonstrates how to create ultra-soft 2D structures that lay the groundwork for the miniaturization of technology to the nanoscale, such as wearable electronics that conform to the flexibility of skin. By controlling the stacking between layers of materials, researchers were able to change the stiffness of two-dimensional materials by engineering the friction between layers.

The cross-disciplinary team at the University of Illinois includes Professor Pinshane Huang from Materials Science and Engineering; two researchers in Mechanical Science and Engineering, Professors Arend van der Zande and Elif Ertekin; Dr. Jaehyung Yu, a postdoctoral researcher who recently graduated from the van der Zande and Ertekin groups; and graduate students Edmund Han in the Huang Group and M. Abir Hossain in the van der Zande Group. All are researchers in the Materials Research Laboratory. The team collaborated with researchers from the National Institute for Materials Science in Japan....