The researchers made the first superatomic 2-D semiconductor, a material whose base units are not atoms but atomic super atomic groups that exhibit some of the properties of one or more individual atoms. Researchers expect the new material to be only the first member of what will become a new family of 2D semiconductors whose superatomic structures will dramatically increase the diversity, functionality, and applications of two-dimensional materials.
The researchers investigated a little-studied material called Re6Se8Cl2, first reported in 1983. Their analysis revealed that the material's structure does not consist of layers of single atoms as in graphene, but of pseudosquare lattices of tilted clusters characteristic of a superatomic structure.In this material, the superatomic clusters are linked together by strong covalent bonds, yet the interactions between layers are weak, making it possible to exfoliate thin sheets of the material while maintaining its superatomic structure. Using the Scotch tape method, the researchers produced superatomic flakes roughly 15 nm thick, and are currently working on preparing monolayer flakes.
This work opens the doors to new classes of 2-D materials with potentially greater tunability and control of their physical properties" coauthor Xiaoyang Zhu at Columbia University
Read :
Researchers create first superatomic 2-D semiconductor : https://phys.org/news/2018-02-superatomic-d-semiconductor.html
Superatomic Two-Dimensional Semiconductor : https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.nanolett.7b05278?journalCode=nalefd
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