With the advent of graphene, the most studied of all two-dimensional materials, many inorganic analogues have been synthesized and are being exploited for novel applications. Several approaches have been used to obtain large-grain, high-quality materials. Naturally occurring ores, for example, are the best precursors for obtaining highly ordered and large-grain atomic layers by exfoliation. Here, we demonstrate a new two-dimensional material ‘hematene’ obtained from natural iron ore hematite (α-Fe₂O₃), which is isolated by means of liquid exfoliation. The two-dimensional morphology of hematene is confirmed by transmission electron microscopy. Magnetic measurements together with density functional theory calculations confirm the ferromagnetic order in hematene while its parent form exhibits antiferromagnetic order. When loaded on titania nanotube arrays, hematene exhibits enhanced visible light photocatalytic activity. Our study indicates that photogenerated electrons can be transferred from hematene to titania despite a band alignment unfavourable for charge transfer.

随着所有二维材料中研究最多的石墨烯的出现，已经合成了许多无机类似物，并正在将其用于新的应用。已经使用了几种方法来获得大颗粒，高质量的材料。例如，天然矿石是通过剥落获得高度有序的大晶粒原子层的最佳前体。这里，我们证明了新的二维材料由天然铁矿石赤铁矿获得“hematene”（的α-Fe ₂ ö ₃），通过液体剥落法将其隔离。苏木烯的二维形态通过透射电子显微镜确认。磁性测量结果与密度泛函理论计算结果一起证实了庚烯中的铁磁有序，而其母体形式则表现出反铁磁有序。当负载在二氧化钛纳米管阵列上时，he烯表现出增强的可见光光催化活性。我们的研究表明，光生电子可以从he烯转移到二氧化钛，尽管其带取向不利于电荷转移。