Van der Waals strain

Chemistry

Materials science

Graphite

Chemical physics

DLVO theory

Nanotechnology

Organic chemistry

Van der Waals surface

Colloid

Graphene

Molecule

Exfoliation joint

Van der Waals radius

van der Waals force

Physical chemistry

npj 2D Materials and Applications

The exfoliation of two naturally occurring van der Waals minerals, graphite and molybdenite, arouse an unprecedented level of interest by the scientific community and shaped a whole new field of research: 2D materials research. Several years later, the family of van der Waals materials that can be exfoliated to isolate 2D materials keeps growing, but most of them are synthetic. Interestingly, in nature, plenty of naturally occurring van der Waals minerals can be found with a wide range of chemical compositions and crystal structures whose properties are mostly unexplored so far. This Perspective aims to provide an overview of different families of van der Waals minerals to stimulate their exploration in the 2D limit.

Naturally occurring van der Waals materials