Episode 15: Torsional force microscopy reveals the moiré superlattices

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Sophia Chen interviews Mihir Pendharkar of Stanford University about characterizing electronic properties of twistronics materials. Twistronics refers to a type of electronic device consisting of two-dimensional materials layered at a relative twist angle, forming a new periodic structure known as moiré superlattices. Pendharkar and colleagues studied different configurations of graphene layered with hexagonal boron nitride. Determining the twist angle of any particular sample is extremely time-consuming. By developing a characterization technique called torsional force microscopy, Pendharkar and colleagues have reduced the time to a matter of hours. This work was published in a recent issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.