Tuesday 3 December 2013

Move over Graphene, there is a New Guy in Town

New wonder material 'stanene' could replace graphene with 100% electrical conductivity

A new material made from a single layer of tin atoms could make history by becoming the world’s first electrical conductor to work at 100 per cent efficiency. This would make it even more conductive than 'wonder material' graphene.

The new material has not yet been fabricated but has been christened “stanene”, a combination of the Latin word for tin (stannum) and the suffix found in the word graphene.

Stanene was discovered by researchers from the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University and could revolutionize computing by replacing the copper wires still used in modern computer chips.

Stanene could increase the speed and lower the power needs of future generations of computer chips

Stanene is what is known as a ‘topological insulator’, meaning its interior is an insulator but it conducts electrons along its surface. By making the material only a single atom thick, the stanene is essentially all surface, allowing it to conduct electricity with 100 per cent efficiency.


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