Colorized TEM image of tungsten disulfide triangles (black)
growing on graphene substrate (green).
When it comes to engineering single-layer atomic structures,
"minding the gap" will help researchers create artificial electronic
materials one atomic layer at a time, according to a team of materials
scientists.
The gap is a miniscule vacuum that researchers in Penn
State's Center for 2-Dimensional and Layered Materials believe is an energy
barrier keeping electrons from easily crossing from one layer of material to
the next.