We’ve all heard of Graphene – the two-dimensional carbon allotrope with exceptional strength, flexibility, and conductance – but what about Borophene?
Meet flatland’s latest resident: borophene, a sheet of boron just one atom thick. It joins a family of two-dimensional materials that has been flourishing ever since graphene, the granddaddy of them all, took the world by storm in 2004.
Borophene is the next generation graphene. It has recently been successfully synthesized using molecular beam epitaxy, and now, researchers from Rice University, USA, and Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, China, report in Advanced Functional Materials their complete first-principles analyses of the mechanical properties of borophene.
Graphene’s honeycomb arrangement of carbon atoms lends it strength, flexibility and superb electrical conductivity. Borophene’s boron atoms share the same arrangement, but with an extra boron atom cherried on top of each tessellated hexagon. And although borophene has not yet been isolated as a free-standing sheet, there are already tantalizing hints that some of borophene’s properties could surpass those of its flat cousins. Researchers have shown that borophene has “record high” flexibility, a higher stiffness to weight ratio than graphene, and a higher ideal strength than the best known polymer materials. In fact, rather than fracturing under strain like many materials, borophene experiences strain-induced structural phase transitions that strengthen the material further. Furthermore, its material strength is heightened by introducing more HHs into the network, providing us with the ability to tailor and fine tune the material properties. With low mass density, high strength, and high levels of flexibility, borophenes are promising for reinforcing elements for designing composites and for flexible nanodevices, such as flexible electrodes and contacts for nanoelectronics.
The team of Prof. Mark Hersam is investigating the potential application of a variety of 2D materials including borophene in nanoelectronic devices. For the first time, the team made composites and combined borophene with another material to create heterostructures for the fundamental building block for fabrication of the electronic devices.
“As a 2D metal, borophene helps fill a void in the family of 2D nanoelectronic materials,” said Hersam.
Prof. Hersam perceives that we need to develop more reliable encapsulation and/or passivation schemes which will help to fabricate and test borophenes in a UHV free environment easily.
With enriched properties in advance class the graphene, such as low mass density, high strength, and high levels of flexibility makes borophenes a promising candidate as a reinforced elements for designing composites and for flexible nanodevices, such as flexible electrodes and contacts for nanoelectronics.
Oh, sounds complex! Definitely, fear not. Watch this space for more digestible news related to borophenes.