A potentially revolutionary new material, described as a sort of “artificial graphene,” has been created by researchers at the University of Luxembourg.
The material — which is essentially the same thing as graphene, except that instead of carbon molecules, nanometer-thick semiconductor crystals are used — should lead to improvements to a wide variety of different technologies, across a broad spectrum of traits, according to the researchers. Of particular note to our readers are the potential applications in photovoltaic cells, LEDs, and communication technologies.
Artificial graphene
Image Credit: Université du Luxembourg
The University of Luxembourg provides more info:
Graphene (derived from graphite) is a one atom thick honeycomb lattice of carbon atoms. This strong, flexible, conducting and transparent material has huge scientific and technological potential. Only discovered in 2004, there is a major global push to understand its potential uses. Artificial graphene has the same honeycomb structure, but in this case, instead of carbon atoms, nanometer-thick semiconductor crystals are used. Changing the size, shape and chemical nature of the nano-crystals, makes it possible to tailor the material to each specific task.
Researcher Dr Efterpi Kalesaki, of the University of Luxembourg, stated: “These self‐assembled semi-conducting nano-crystals with a honeycomb structure are emerging as a new class of systems with great potential.”
Researcher Prof Ludger Wirtz, head of the Theoretical Solid-State Physics group at the University of Luxembourg, added: “artificial graphene opens the door to a wide variety of materials with variable nano‐geometry and ‘tunable’ properties.”
The new findings were just published in the journal Physical Review X.
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