The Promise of 2D Materials
By Fenella Saunders
A discussion about materials that are only one molecule thick, which show great promise for use in electronics and other areas.
April 20, 2016
From The Staff Physics Technology
All known materials have three dimensions, but those that are only one molecule thick are often referred to as two-dimensional materials for their lack of depth. Cornell University chemistry professor Michael G. Spencer—a Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecturer—studies these materials, including graphene, and spoke with American Scientist's managing editor Fenella Saunders about the great promise of such materials for use in electronics and other areas. He also spoke about the uses of thin films to advance betavoltaics, batteries powered by relatively harmless radioactive isotopes that produce electrons.
A Storify of the Tweets detailing the discussion is shown below.
The Promise of 2D Materials
Engineer and Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecturer Michael Spencer studies materials that are only one molecule thick, often referred to as two-dimensional materials because of this lack of depth. These materials, such as graphene, are showing great promise for use in electronics and other areas.
Today 15:30 ET: The promise of 2-D materials http://bit.ly/1TRLS9k #AmSciGHO w/ #engineer Michael Spencer @Cornell pic.twitter.com/XlAUYeQmTn
A good backgrounder to graphene, for today's #amscigho on 2D materials, is here: http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/feature/graphene-in-high-frequency-electronics/99999 … pic.twitter.com/GTS5QIjBXB- Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecturer Michael Spencer is an electrical engineer who is working on materials http://www.mse.cornell.edu/people/profile.cfm?netid=mgs22 … #AmSciGHO
- Michael Spencer: Graphene is now being produced on a large scale. Several companies sell sheets of it. #AmSciGHO http://bit.ly/1TRLS9k
Ever wonder how graphene is made? Michael Spencer @Cornell is explaining now in #AmSciGHO http://bit.ly/1TRLS9k pic.twitter.com/iqV2WCL5n9- More details about chemical vapor deposition, a process used in creating graphene https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_vapor_deposition … #AmSciGHO
- Michael Spencer: Copper is a good substrate for producing graphene. Learn about the process in #AmSciGHO, live now http://bit.ly/1TRLS9k
- Michael Spencer: Difficulty in 2D materials like graphene is inability to grow multiple layers of quality http://bit.ly/1TRLS9k #AmSciGHO
- Betavoltaics have small power output but high energy density. Electronic devices are starting to fit this http://bit.ly/1TRLS9k #AmSciGHO
- Michael Spencer: An application for low power betavoltaic devices could be monitoring items for tampering. http://bit.ly/1TRLS9k #AmSciGHO
- Michael Spencer's biggest advice for PhD students: Perservere and be patient for things to work out #graduateschoolproblems #AmSciGHo
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