Electronic devices receive gold standard
6 Sep 2013
Chemical engineers from Kansas State University have shown how gold atoms can improve the electrical characteristics of a three-atom material.
Researchers believe the material, molybdenum disulphide (MoS2), will offer great potential for the future of electronic devices.
“These atomically thick structures have the potential to revolutionise electronics
KSU professor Vikas Berry
Its ultra-thin composition was manipulated by engineers, and research suggests the material could help advance transistors, photodetectors, sensors and thermally conductive coatings.
“Futuristically, these atomically thick structures have the potential to revolutionise electronics by evolving into devices that will be only a few atoms thick,” stated KSU professor Vikas Berry.
“The research will pave the way for atomically fusing layered heterostructures to leverage their capacitive interactions for next-generation electronics and photonics,” he added.
Professor Berry’s laboratory has been leading studies on synthesis and properties of several next-generation atomically thick nanomaterials, such as graphene and boron-nitride layers.
Recently, Berry and his team have focused on transistors based on (MoS2), which was isolated only two years ago.
Constructed of three-atom-thick sheets, MoS2 has recently shown to have transistor-rectification that is better than graphene, which is a single-atom-thick sheet of carbon atoms.
Having studied MoS2’s structure, Berry and his team realised that the sulphur group on its surface had a strong chemistry with noble metals, including gold.
The next stage of research is to create a viable power source that can sustain these ultra-thin electronic devices.
Although Berry and his team believe they have created a power source that has reduced the amount of energy needed to run such a device, they have not said whether it is economically or realistically viable.
