We are pleased to announce that Dr. Silvia Villar-Rodil has been appointed Section Editor-in-Chief of the Section “2D and Carbon Nanomaterials” in Nanomaterials (ISSN: 2079-4991).

Dr. Silvia Villar-Rodil is a scientific researcher at the Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología del Carbono (INCAR), which belongs to the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), the largest research institution in Spain. She entered the field of nanomaterials when the research field of two-dimensional (2D) materials emerged after the first isolation of graphene. In fact, the research team she belongs to pioneered experimental work on graphene in her country. Her current research activity focuses on the development of scalable preparation and processing methods for graphene and other 2D materials, investigating their potential in energy storage and environmental applications. Her research includes the optimization of 2D materials performance in application and the exploitation of the basic knowledge generated in parallel.

The following is a short Q&A with Dr. Silvia Villar-Rodil, who shared her vision for the journal with us, as well as her views of the research area:

1. What appealed to you about the journal that made you want to take on the role as its Section Editor-in-Chief?
Nanomaterials is a well-known and respected journal in its field. The fact that the scope of this Section, “2D and Carbon Nanomaterials”, covers my field of research and encompasses the full range of materials I have studied throughout my scientific career makes it very exciting to become its Section Editor-in-Chief. For someone whose research career started in carbon materials science, and who entered fully into the field of two-dimensional materials hand in hand with graphene and then expanded the scope of her research to include other 2D materials, this role offers a great opportunity to witness, share and promote the advances of the field from a privileged position.

2. What is your vision for the Section?
I see this Section as an open platform for the advancement of scientific research in its scope and as a window into the field of research for the whole scientific community. I look forward to the discovery and publication of new methodologies for the preparation and processing of 2D and carbon nanomaterials with optimized performance in relevant applications to address our society’s demands.

3. What does the future of this field of research look like?
New preparation avenues are expected to open up for an increasing number of 2D materials, including those coming from non-layered 3D precursors. The availability of a large number of 2D materials with different characteristics will open up the possibility of their tailor-made development for each specific application. Their combinations will give way to an even greater number of both 2D and 3D materials with emergent and tunable properties. To this end, new methodologies will have to be developed for the large-scale preparation of both 2D materials-based heterostructures and superlattices. It is also expected that new and better strategies will be developed to address the tendency of 2D nanolayers to restack, an issue that impedes fully exploiting their potential. Not only incremental but also disruptive advancements are expected to arise from the implementation of 2D and carbon nanomaterials application to diverse fields, such as nanomedicine, nanosensing, optoelectronics, catalysis or energy storage, among others. Overcoming difficulties with scalability and cost-effectiveness will be crucial to enable the actual implementation of these materials in application. Given the increasing focus on sustainability in science policy worldwide, more sustainable preparation and processing methodologies for 2D and carbon nanomaterials are expected to become available in the coming years. This trend will also be reflected in the increasing use of 2D and carbon nanomaterials in sustainability-related applications, such as catalysis for pollutant degradation and energy storage in relation to decarbonization. As with any other type of nanomaterial, attention must be paid to potential toxicity and health effects, as well as biocompatibility in medical applications.

We warmly welcome Dr. Silvia Villar-Rodil as the Section Editor-in-Chief of the Section “2D and Carbon Nanomaterials”, and we wish her every success in her new position.