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| Borophene (Image is credited to Wikipedia) |
Another promising material for electricity, Borophene (a single-atom-layer thick sheet of boron), a borophene is more challenging to synthesise than that in graphene. Unlike graphene that can be intercalated from graphite or any other methods, borophene cannot merely be peeled away from bulk boron. Insted, borophene must be grown direclty onto a substrate.
And if growing one layer was difficult, growing multiple layers of atomically two dimensiaonl flat borophene seemed impossible. As bulk boron does not have layers like graphene within graphite, growing boron beyond single atomic layers leads to clustering rather than planar films.
Borophene was created for the first time by researchers from McCormick School of Engineering, Material Research Science and Engineering Centre, and Rice University five years ago. Stronger, lighter and more flexible than graphene, borophene has the potential to revolutionize batteries, electronics, sensors, solar cells and quantum computing. Although theoretical research predicted that a double layer of borophene was possible, this team of researchers wer not convinced.
Hersham, the researcher leader said that, "It is challenging to make a new material, even when theoretical work predicts its existence. Theorey rearely tells you the synthetic conditions needed to achieve that new structure". The key to the correct conditions for this succesful synthetic was the substrated used for the growing, in which the results of this study are published in the journal Nature Materials. In the study, the team grew borophene on a flat, silver substrate. When exposed to very high temperatures, the silver bunched to form exceptionally flat, large terraces between bunches of atomic-scale steps.
The double-layered material maintained all of borophene's desirable electronic properties, while offering new advantages. For instance, the material comprises two atomic-layer-thick sheets bonded together with space between, which could be used for energy or chemical storage.
Hersham argued that diamonds, graphite, graphene and carbon nanotubes are all based on one element (carbon) with different geometries, and that applies to Boron which appears to be just as rich in its possibilities. They believe that we are still in the early chapters of the two-dimensional boron saga.
Do you think we are at the end of carbon saga? Commends, share and like it. (Source from Phys-Org)