Materials one atom thick: how are 2D materials changing the future of medicine, industry, and environmental protection?

What if a material only one atom thick could detect disease, improve medical diagnostics, or even help develop safer technologies for the future?
This is exactly what 2D materials are—extremely thin yet extremely powerful materials that have been attracting a lot of interest from scientists around the world over the past decade.

One of the best known is graphene, a material consisting of a single layer of carbon atoms.

Despite its extreme thinness, it is extremely strong, conducts electricity and heat well, and opens up completely new possibilities for use – from electronics to medicine and environmental technologies. Research into these materials is also important because they can have a major impact on our daily lives. They can be used in the development of advanced sensors, new medical diagnostic methods, more efficient batteries, or sustainable industrial processes.
However, due to their extreme small size and special properties, it is essential that scientists also have a good understanding of their potential effects on human health and the environment. This is the aim of the European research project ACCORDs, coordinated by the Biotechnical Faculty at the University of Ljubljana under the leadership of Prof. Damjana Drobne. The project brings together researchers from various scientific fields – from biology and chemistry to physics and advanced microscopic technologies – with the aim of developing new approaches to the study of nanomaterials. The project brings together researchers from various scientific fields—from biology and chemistry to physics and advanced microscopic technologies—with the aim of developing new approaches for studying and safely using 2D materials.

One of the key methods being developed in the project is called correlative imaging. This is an advanced research approach that combines different microscopic techniques and allows scientists to observe how 2D materials behave in biological systems on multiple levels simultaneously. This allows them to better understand their effects on cells, tissues, and the environment. Such knowledge is crucial for the responsible development of new technologies. Only when scientists have a good understanding of how materials work and what risks they may pose can they be safely transferred to industrial use.

The ACCORDs project thus combines cutting-edge science with social responsibility and supports the goals of the European Green Deal – the development of new technologies that are innovative, safe, and sustainable. Once the project is complete, the new knowledge will benefit both the scientific community and industry, and above all, it will contribute to the development of materials of the future that are more people- and environment-friendly. The coordination of such a large-scale European project at the Faculty of Biotechnology is also an important recognition of Slovenian science. At the same time, it proves that cooperation between numerous disciplines – from biologists to physicists – can open up completely new perspectives on the world of materials that are invisible to the naked eye but can have an enormous impact on the future of society.