The anvils squeeze the metals

Putting the squeeze on MoS2: A novel technique for making ultrathin metal sheets from atomistically flat sapphire anvils

To make an ultrathin metal sheet, the team heated a droplet of the metal between two sapphire anvils, which were pressed together as the metal cooled (see ‘Putting the squeeze on’). The sandwich of MoS2–metal–MoS2 sheets could be easily pried out of the apparatus through a panini press because MoS2 interacts more strongly with metal than sapphire.

Zhang was inspired to develop the latest technique by a video of copper forging. The copper is hammered and squeezed on a large anvil after being heated in a furnace.

It took seven years to adapt the idea to work at the nanoscale. The biggest challenge was finding a sufficiently flat anvil to squeeze the metal layers. They coated sapphire, which is atomically flat, with MoS2 and it was very hard.

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