Researching stanene building methods is still a challenge

Aug 4, 2015 16:18 GMT  ·  By

Although considered the mother of all conducting materials in the past, it seems that graphene has been surpassed by the newly discovered stanene.

Surpassed to such levels that researchers believe that stanene has such incredible properties that it can allow transfer of electricity without any wasted heat.

Being a 2D construction of Tin atoms, stanene might prove to be the best of the extremely conductive materials group, where graphene is included as well. It allows electrons to travel along the edges of the structure without any internal collision whatsoever. Therefore no electron is lost, and thus, no heat is expelled.

Because it transmits energy very well at room temperature, stanene quickly becomes a new favorite among materials to construct electronics. Unfortunately, perfect conditions to gather and purify the stanene are extremely difficult to achieve at the moment.

Nature magazine reports that researchers have tried different methods of constructing stanene by vaporizing tin in a vacuum and then letting the atoms collect on a supporting surface.

Unfortunately, the bismuth telluride supporting surface interacted too radically with the stanene, fusing the atoms together, and corrupted the stanene essence damaging the ideal atomic structure for electric conductivity.

The researchers at Stanford University in California now are researching for other ways to create the perfect lattice atomic structure to produce stanene. To reach this level, larger amounts of vaporized tin will probably be needed in order for scientists to create perfect and pure stanene buckled around the bismuth telluride.