Surface chemistry and catalysis confined under two-dimensional materials

Two-dimensional (2D) materials are characterised by their strong intraplanar bonding but weak interplanar interaction. Interfaces between neighboring 2D layers or between 2D overlayers and substrate surfaces provide intriguing confined spaces for chemical processes, which have stimulated a new area of "chemistry under 2D cover". In particular, well-defined 2D material overlayers such as graphene, hexagonal boron nitride, and transition metal dichalcogenides have been deposited on solid surfaces, which can be used as model systems to understand the new chemistry. In the present review, we first show that many atoms and molecules can intercalate ultrathin 2D materials supported on solid surfaces and the space…