Metals are among the most ubiquitous materials in modern technology, yet in 
electronics they have long been confined to a passive role as highly conducting 
interconnects rather than active functional elements. In this talk, I will present a new 
perspective on how two-dimensional elemental metals can move beyond this traditional 
limitation, not by changing their chemistry, but by redefining their microstructure.
By engineering nucleation and growth under extreme two-dimensional confinement, we create ultrathin metal nanosheets with strongly aligned grain 
boundaries. This microstructural anisotropy translates directly into electronic anisotropy, producing transport characteristics that are fundamentally inaccessible in bulk or conventionally deposited metals. Remarkably, a single elemental metal sheet can host orthogonal conduction pathways with vastly different resistances, enabling transistor￾like switching behavior without semiconducting bandgaps, junctions, or complex heterostructures.
These results challenge the long-standing assumption that elemental metals are intrinsically isotropic and functionally simple. Instead, they reveal grain-boundary engineering as a powerful design axis for imparting emergent electronic functionality to metals. Beyond demonstrating a new class of anisotropic metallic nanosheets, this work points toward an alternative device paradigm in which computation and switching can be realized within all-metal architectures, opening new opportunities for energy- efficient and unconventional electronics.