Goodbye Graphene?! Introducing Borophene, The New Wonder Material!

graphene has been in the limelight for its unique properties for example it is harder than diamond but more elastic than rubber and stronger than steel but lighter than aluminum but what if we say that there is a material that is even stronger and has the ability to push graphene out of the limelight this material is called borophene and in this video we are going to dive deeper into this topic and understand why borophene is the new wonder material now 2d structures are becoming increasingly attractive in material science due to the many possible applications among them is graphene a very strong and flexible 2d carbon allotrope with excellent thermal conductivity it is shaped like a honeycomb one atom thick hexagonal in shape and has semi-metallic properties it was discovered in 2004 by guillem and novoslov and received the 2010 nobel prize in physics but there's amazing new material on the block like graphene it is only one atom thick and while graphene is made of carbon this new material called borophene is made of the element boron it was first synthesized in 2015 and since then scientists have discovered that it is even stronger and more flexible than graphene a study on the use of the material published on digital academic platform rxiv in march 2019 catalogued its potential applications including hydrogen storage and higher performance lithium-ion batteries applications that could be critical in an electric vehicle-dominated future because it is more flexible than graphene it can also be used in flexible electronics the researchers also speculate that the capabilities of the borofine as a superconductor mean it could be used to make next generation wearables biomolecular sensors and even quantum computers we will see a few applications later in this video but before that let's have a brief look at these two materials one by one let's begin with graphene graphene has garnered significant interest in pioneering research laboratories around the world because of its potential for use in all manner of electronics applications from ram random access memory to displays printed graphene for paper electronics and car batteries this allows electrons to pass at high speeds and is therefore viewed with respect as it can serve as a material for designing all manner of fast robust transparent electronics however graphene also has its limitations first the high production cost says graphene flakes with a size of only one micron cost more than a thousand dollars making them one of the most expensive materials in the world research is actively underway to find new ways to produce more and cheaper graphene and success seems imminent for example graphene-treated silver nanoconductors have been visualized and if this process is applied it could provide a more cost-effective alternative for fabricating nanoconductor-based displays this in turn could replace the indium tin oxide combination now used to make affordable flexible touch screens another difficulty in using graphene relates to its mechanical hardness which makes it unsuitable for devices requiring significant tolerances to compression stress or torsion it has a band gap that is not suitable for simple switch on off operation due to its susceptibility to oxidation it cannot be used as a catalyst in oxidizing media in addition there may be sharp edges that could potentially damage the cell membrane and impair its function now moving towards borophene other 2d materials after graphene are hexagonal boron nitride carbon nitride graphite silicon and germanium and dichalkoconides such as molybdenum disulfide borophene is one of the newest developments borophene is based on boron just as graphene is based on carbon this is important because at the nanoscale the small atomic groups of carbon and boron are very similar although at the macroscopic level the allotropes are very different therefore the existence of 2d boron as graphene was theoretically predicted before it was discovered the substance is actually created by the molecular beam epitoxial growth that is elemental boron is deposited onto the silver surface under a very high vacuum the first 2d sheets reported to be obtained are metallic and weakly bonded to a silver substrate with a characteristic buckled or crinkled surface since then three different types of 2d boron films have been successfully fabricated using boron atoms on silver substrates as theoretically predicted this is even a nano sheet although its main atom boron is an undeniably non-metallic semiconductor in addition the new foil is strong and flexible and has a high electronic conductivity like graphene but is mechanically much stronger and weighs much less due to its low mass density making it very valuable its flexibility is well above that of graphene and is said to be at a record high level strength ideally exceeds that of the best known polymeric materials in addition there is a higher hardness to weight ratio in fact borophene refuses to crack under stress undergoing a special phase transition of deformation in its structure that makes it even stronger the unique wavy surface is observed under a scanning microscope when grown on a silver substrate which has attracted the attention of researchers in flexible electronics such as flexible electrodes and nano electronic contacts its strength and light weight make it useful as a potential reinforcing component in composite construction this makes it the only one of its kind in the 2d nanoelectronic materials category mechanical properties have been studied independently in china and the united states it has two unique features which might explain its new features one of these is the boron atomic network which consists of many variable hollow hexagons hhs that form a triangular reference lattice by individually adjusting the hh content this grating can be adapted to the desired mechanical properties in other words the more hh is added the stronger the lattice becomes another feature is the delocalized multi-center connection which makes it highly metallic a development to significance has not yet been fully explored its superconductivity is also important some studies show a higher electron density than graphene which may mean that when cooled it can carry electricity without loss amazing isn't it work is ongoing to synthesize and fully characterize it it is known that both smooth and striped sheets of borophene have been synthesized as seen under a scanning tunneling microscope depending on their formation temperature and the way the boron atoms are in contact with the underlying silver surface the corrugated type has excellent conductivity for electrons in the ridges and the hardness may be higher than graphene itself these directional components could make borophene the first choice in experimental filtering of polarized light for example boron is highly reactive and so freestanding borophene sheets have so far proved elusive this would be necessary to more accurately measure its conductivity which was not possible until now however this reactivity is far from a disadvantage as it allows borophene to be easily modified by using other chemical groups or by compressing it between layers of other materials to fine-tune its properties as required boron's hardness may also mean that borophene promises to be a stronger substance for a wide range of applications than silicon and germanium which break easily the thermal conductivity of the borophene lattice also initially increases with increasing temperature but begins to decrease from 150k as with other crystalline materials thus the thermal conductivity of the lattice at room temperature is about 14.34 watt per meter which is much lower than that of graphene and suspension about 3 500 watt per meter this demonstrates its outstanding use in thermal management across a wide range of applications another way to control the thermal conductivity is to introduce the necessary nanostructure designs such as grain boundaries and types and positions of nano inclusions with such extraordinary properties it is not surprising that this extraordinary material promises more applications from electronics to other photovoltaic devices unlocking the possibilities of 2d boron-based semiconductors in an october 2021 article published in the american chemical society's journal of applied nano materials engineers reveal the superconducting properties of a specially synthesized borophene species the team behind the research is from the school of information science and engineering shandong university xingdao china an institution specializing in boron furnaces 2d borophene nanomaterials and new metal applications including anode materials for lithium-ion batteries hydrogenated borofene was recently successfully synthesized for the first time and this development opens up the possibility of 2d boron-based semiconductors nanoscale field effect transistors a first principle analysis in the latest study revealed that hydronated borophene is suitable for use in nanoscale field effective transistors or fets fets use an electric field to control the flow of current in a semiconductor device they may have three terminals source gate and drain the fet provides good isolation between control and flows due to its high resistance from inlet to outlet of a hundred mega ohm or more they also produce less noise than bipolar junction transistors or bjts and exhibit no bias at zero leakage current fets are also usually more thermally stable than bjts fets are suitable for ultra low power stitching meaning they can be efficiently minimized due to reduced heat dissipation requirements the new study includes a detailed assessment of the tunable electronic properties of the b8h4 monolayer in deformation engineering which is important for the fabrication of 2d and nanoscale semiconductors the team also demonstrated how hydrogenated borophene-based fets perform in terms of ballistic conductivity ballistic conductivity is the constant flow of energy carrying particles over relatively large distances in a superconducting material based fet semiconductors have shown promising electrical performance for this application keep an eye the future of technology is here with this wonderful material hope you enjoyed the video don't forget to hit the like and subscribe buttons thanks and we'll see you soon

Channel: The Tesla Domain

Views: 1,756,628

Keywords: tesla, elon musk, tesla news, cybertruck, model y, model 3, spacex, tech, EV, model s, model x, the tesla domain, top, best, new, graphene, borophene, graphene the wonder material, graphene the wonder material of the future, borophene the wonder material, borophene the we wonder material, new battery element

Id: XH9szn7lbBI

Length: 11min 2sec (662 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 31 2022