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Topic · Materials Chemistry

2D Materials and Applications

2D Materials and Applications is a research topic within Materials Chemistry. Science Explorer counts 38k research works in it since 1953. 9.7% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers covers a wide range of research on two-dimensional materials, including semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides like monolayer MoS2 and black phosphorus. It explores topics such as van der Waals heterostructures, excitonic effects, photoluminescence, electronic structure, and the development of optoelectronic devices based on atomically thin semiconductors.

  • Two-Dimensional Materials
  • Van der Waals Heterostructures
  • Semiconducting Transition Metal Dichalcogenides
  • Monolayer MoS2
  • Black Phosphorus
  • Excitonic Effects
  • Photoluminescence
  • Electronic Structure
  • Optoelectronic Devices
  • Atomically Thin Semiconductors
Research works
38k
fractional, since 1953
In the world top 10%
3.7k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.7%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+23%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
57% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
2D Materials and Applications

Which countries lead 2D Materials and Applications research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (7.6k and 1.5k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 7.6k works
  2. 2 United States 1.5k works
  3. 3 India 1.5k works
  4. 4 South Korea 747 works
  5. 5 Germany 483 works
  6. 6 Japan 465 works
  7. 7 Iran 285 works
  8. 8 Taiwan 269 works
  9. 9 France 261 works
  10. 10 Russia 235 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 56.7%United States: 11.4%India: 11.3%South Korea: 5.6%6 others listed: 15.0%57%largest
China7,565 · 56.7%United States1,518 · 11.4%India1,506 · 11.3%South Korea747 · 5.6%6 others listed1,999 · 15.0%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead 2D Materials and Applications research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most 2D Materials and Applications research, followed by Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and University of Chinese Academy of Sciences.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 689 works
  2. 2 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 134 works
  3. 3 University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 126 works
  4. 4 Peking UniversityChina 106 works
  5. 5 National Institute for Materials ScienceJapan 104 works
  6. 6 Tsinghua UniversityChina 103 works
  7. 7 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 101 works
  8. 8 Huazhong University of Science and TechnologyChina 100 works
  9. 9 Hunan UniversityChina 98 works
  10. 10 Fudan UniversityChina 92 works

Who are the leading researchers in 2D Materials and Applications?

The most-cited researchers publishing on 2D Materials and Applications include Zhong Lin Wang, Michaël Grätzel and John P. Perdew.

  1. 1 Zhong Lin Wang United States 491k citations
  2. 2 Michaël Grätzel Switzerland 458k citations
  3. 3 John P. Perdew United States 436k citations
  4. 4 Georg Kresse Austria 431k citations
  5. 5 Kostya S. Novoselov United Kingdom 331k citations
  6. 6 Andre K. Geim United Kingdom 315k citations
  7. 7 Yury G. Gogotsi United States 313k citations
  8. 8 Wei Huang China 267k citations
  9. 9 Yi Ping Cui United States 261k citations
  10. 10 Ben Zhong Tang China 261k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in 2D Materials and Applications?

The most cited paper in 2D Materials and Applications is "Electronics and optoelectronics of two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides" (Qing Hua Wang, Kourosh Kalantar‐Zadeh, András Kis et al., 2012), with 16,413 citations. Next come "Atomically Thin MoS 2 : A New Direct-Gap Semiconductor" (15,416) and "Single-layer MoS2 transistors" (14,985).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Electronics and optoelectronics of two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides Qing Hua Wang, Kourosh Kalantar‐Zadeh, András Kis et al. · Nature Nanotechnology Open access Nov 2012 16,413
2 Atomically Thin MoS 2 : A New Direct-Gap Semiconductor Kin Fai Mak, Changgu Lee, James Hone et al. · Physical Review Letters Open access 24 Sep 2010 15,416
3 Single-layer MoS2 transistors Branimir Radisavljevic, Aleksandra Rađenović, Jacopo Brivio et al. · Nature Nanotechnology Open access 30 Jan 2011 14,985
4 Two‐Dimensional Nanocrystals Produced by Exfoliation of Ti 3 AlC 2 Michael Naguib, Murat Erdem Kurtoglu, Volker Presser et al. · Advanced Materials Open access 22 Aug 2011 11,847
5 Two-dimensional atomic crystals Kostya S. Novoselov, Da Jiang, Fred Schedin et al. · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Open access 18 Jul 2005 11,689
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is 2D Materials and Applications research done?

The largest centres of 2D Materials and Applications research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Nanjing (China), Shanghai (China) and Xi'an (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Jinan, Xiangtan and San Sebastian.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 1.2k works
  2. 2 NanjingChina 450 works
  3. 3 ShanghaiChina 438 works
  4. 4 Xi'anChina 386 works
  5. 5 SeoulSouth Korea 366 works
  6. 6 WuhanChina 350 works
  7. 7 ChangshaChina 238 works
  8. 8 HefeiChina 236 works
  9. 9 GuangzhouChina 223 works
  10. 10 ShenzhenChina 214 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Jinan21.9 works24×
  2. XiangtanCN · 92.3 works12×
  3. San SebastianES · 23.4 works11×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in 2D Materials and Applications than the world average.

See 2D Materials and Applications on the map

Where is the best place to study 2D Materials and Applications?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, City University of Hong Kong and Hunan University score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 18.61%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →City University of H…Fudan UniversityHunan UniversityUniversity of Chines…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 58.311.4%5.4×126 +7.5%
2City University of Hong KongChina 58.320.9%3.9×32 +16.4%
3Hunan UniversityChina 57.912.5%9.7×98 +4.2%
4Fudan UniversityChina 57.417.4%4.1×92 +5.4%
5Drexel UniversityUnited States 57.137.5%4.3×18 -29.1%
6Linköping UniversitySweden 55.330.9%3.3×13 +20.3%
7Xi'an Jiaotong UniversityChina 54.914.5%3.1×76 +53.3%
8Southwest UniversityChina 54.916.6%7.1×55 +37.7%
9Jilin UniversityChina 54.313.1%4.6×76 +22.4%
10Beijing Institute of TechnologyChina 53.911.3%4.7×79 +75.9%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in 2D Materials and Applications, country by country

Is 2D Materials and Applications research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 23% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are 2D Materials and Applications.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is 2D Materials and Applications as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.066% in 2024.

still counting0.025%0.050%0.075%2D Materials and Applications0.065% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of 2D Materials and Applications over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%2D Materials and Applications9.6% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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