Conditionally two-dimensional semiconductor material from superatoms. Free Technical Library News

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Conditionally two-dimensional semiconductor material from superatoms

25.02.2018

All people know that all normal matter in the universe around us consists of atoms. However, researchers from Columbia University, USA, the Italian Institute of Technology and the University of Angers, France, have created a new conditionally two-dimensional semiconductor material, the basis of the structure of which is the so-called superatoms, which are a group of several atoms that demonstrate some of the properties of a single large atom.

The researchers expect that the material they created is the first of a family of "superatomic" materials that will find applications in electronics and other areas of science and technology in the future.

Note that the field of two-dimensional materials is a very young field of science that has been rapidly developing in recent years. Most known two-dimensional materials have a simple structure, the most famous such material, graphene, consists of a single layer of carbon atoms. The design of two-dimensional materials with a more complex structure, including those based on superatoms, will significantly expand the range of properties of known materials and their areas of application.

The new material is called Re6Se8Cl2, the first samples of such a material, though in its usual spatial (three-dimensional) form, were obtained back in 1983. Analysis of the material showed that its structure consisted of "lattice of pseudo-square tilted groups", groups that were later called superatoms.

In the new two-dimensional material, the superatoms are connected to each other by strong covalent bonds. However, the relationship between the layers of the material is rather weak, which makes it possible to separate the thinnest individual layers, preserving their superatomic structure. The thickness of such a layer is about 15 nanometers, and scientists have already managed to obtain a large number of particles of a monolayer material for a thorough study of its properties.

The first studies of Re6Se8Cl2 have already made it possible to reveal some features of the optical and electronic properties resulting from the unusual structure of this material. For the present, there is no need to give any exact values, because the research is at its very early stage and the results obtained by scientists will be clarified during the next research. However, it is already clear to scientists that the new material differs significantly from other two-dimensional materials in a number of properties, and these properties can later be used in the development of some completely new technologies.

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