  While crystalline two-dimensional materials have become an experimental
reality during the past few years, an amorphous 2-D material has not been
reported before. Here, using electron irradiation we create an sp2-hybridized
one-atom-thick flat carbon membrane with a random arrangement of polygons,
including four-membered carbon rings. We show how the transformation occurs
step-by-step by nucleation and growth of low-energy multi-vacancy structures
constructed of rotated hexagons and other polygons. Our observations, along
with first-principles calculations, provide new insights to the bonding
behavior of carbon and dynamics of defects in graphene. The created domains
possess a band gap, which may open new possibilities for engineering
graphene-based electronic devices.
