Researchers from the University of Marburg in Germany and Aalto University in Finland discovered a new form of carbon that is only one atom thick. The team said that the new carbon is made up of hexagons, octagons, and squares that form into an ordered lattice.
It is said to be the thinnest known material with unusual properties, making it ideal for creating future electronics and high-tech engineering, which is different from those found in graphene.
They published the full findings of their study titled "Biphenylene Network: a Nonbenzenoid Carbon Allotrope," in Science.
New Form of Carbon Has Unique Electronic Properties
According to Florida News Times, the new two-dimensional geometry is an addition to carbon allotropes, like diamond, graphene, and graphite. However, this latest one has unique electronic properties compared to graphene.
The latter's carbon atoms are combined in single hexagonal layers to form a transparent mesh with electrical and thermal properties ideal for mechanical strength.
Meanwhile, laboratory tests showed that the new biphenylene network behaves electrically like metals, implying that the new carbon could be developed to make a conducive carbon-based electronic circuit.
Applied Physics Professor Peter Liljeroth from Aalto University said that compared to graphene nanoribbons that are usually semiconductors, the biphenylene network becomes a metal more easily. It has the potential to be made into a material as useful as a nanoscale conductor for future electronics.
The new carbon allotrope was discovered when the team was looking at strips of biphenylene networks of up to 21 atoms thick using scanning tunneling spectroscopy. Then the group of Professor Michael Gottfried from Phillips University's Department of Physical Chemistry made the ribbons.
The team from Marburg created carbon-containing molecular chains in a structure that gathered on the surface of very smooth and non-reactive gold. Then, they were meshed together via hydrogen-fluorine zipping technology (HF-zip) to form the biphenylene network strip.
Potential Use of New Biphenylene Network
According to Science Daily, an important feature of the new biphenylene network is that the chains that made up the new carbon are chiral or exist in two mirroring types. Chains of similar types are meshed together on the gold surface to form assemblies to form the new carbon material.
Linghao Yan, who conducted the high-resolution microscopy experiments at Aalto University, said that they used molecular precursors that are tweaked to form the new biphenylene instead of forming graphene.
The team now works to produce larger versions of the material to explore further its potential for making electronic devices. One potential that they can see is using biphenylene anodes to improve the efficiency of lithium-ion batteries used in mobile phones and electric vehicles.
They are confident that this new method will lead them to discover other new carbon networks for future high-tech engineering.
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