Strange hexagonal form of table salt discovered

There are still things to discover about ordinary table salt, a research team from Russia has revealed after creating an exotic version of the usually cubic crystal: hexagonal sodium chloride.

2D materials, which are made up of a single or a few atomic layers, have properties and structures that are often very different to the bulk compound. While some, like graphene, have been studied for decades, there are still many – potentially thousands – waiting to be discovered.