The new nanoscale
manufacturing process draws zinc to the surface of a liquid,
where it forms
sheets just a few atoms thick. XUDONG WANG
(January 30, 2016) After
six years of painstaking effort, a group of University of Wisconsin—Madison
materials scientists believes the tiny sheets of the semiconductor zinc oxide
they’re growing could have huge implications for the future of a host of
electronic and biomedical devices.
The group — led by Xudong Wang, a UW–Madison professor of
materials science and engineering, and postdoctoral researcher Fei Wang — has
developed a technique for creating nearly two-dimensional sheets of compounds
that do not naturally form such thin materials. It is the first time such a
technique has been successful.
The researchers described their findings in the journal
Nature Communications on Jan. 20.
Essentially the microscopic equivalent of a single sheet of
paper, a 2-D nanosheet is a material just a few atoms thick. Nanomaterials have
unique electronic and chemical properties compared to identically composed
materials at larger, conventional scales.
journal reference (Open Access) >>