ORNL and UT researchers have invented a method to merge different 2-dimensional materials into a seamless layer. This colorized scanning tunneling microscope image shows a single-atom sheet composed of graphene (seen in blue) combined with hexagonal boron nitride (seen in yellow).
Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee in Knoxville have pioneered a new technique for forming a two-dimensional, single-atom sheet of two different materials with a seamless boundary.
The study, published in the journal Science, could enable the use of new types of 2-D hybrid materials in technological applications and fundamental research.
By rethinking a traditional method of growing materials, the researchers combined two compounds—graphene and boron nitride—into a single layer only one atom thick. Graphene, which consists of carbon atoms arranged in hexagonal, honeycomb-like rings, has attracted waves of attention because of its high strength and electronic properties. [Read more…]
