2D Material
Today’s
materialistic world is constantly on verge of searching something that has
reduced size, weight, but has kicking performance. Everything you could have
imagined a few decades back is reality now that too in the adoption of nano-technology.
Bronze age and Iron age has some meaning in itself as it is the hot topic of
modern era. Concrete, stainless steel and silicon made the modern era possible.
A new type of material containing single layer of atoms are emerging.
Known as
two-dimensional materials, this class has grown within the past few years to
include lattice-like layers of carbon (graphene), boron (borophene) and
hexagonal boron nitride (aka white graphene), germanium (germanene), silicon
(silicene), phosphorous (phosphorene) and tin (stanene). Every 2D material has
exciting properties and can be combined like Lego bricks to build more new
materials. Graphene is stronger than steel, harder than diamond, lighter than
almost anything, transparent, flexible, and an ultrafast electrical conductor.
It is also impervious to most substances except water vapor, which flows freely
through its molecular mesh.
Hexagonal boron
nitride has been combined with grapheme and boron nitride to improve the
contents of lithium-ion batteries and supercapacitors. By reducing the volume
but still packing more energy, the charging time is reduced, battery life is being
extended and lower weight and waste for every electrically driven devices from
phones to the electric vehicles.
Whenever
new materials enter the environment, toxicity is always a concern. It’s smart
to be cautious and to keep an eye out for problems. Ten years of research into
the toxicology of graphene has, so far, yielded nothing that raises any
concerns over its effects on health or the environment. But studies continue.
Merits:
- Thinnest and strongest material known
- Superb conductor of both heat and electricity.
- Used in the production of high speed electronic devices responsible for fast technological changes.
- Chemical sensors effective at detecting explosives.
- Transistors that operate at higher frequency as compared to others.
- It has led to the production of lower costs of display screens in mobile devices by replacing indium-based electrodes in organic light emitting diodes(OLED) which also lower power consumption.
- Used in the production of lithium-ion batteries that recharge faster. These batteries use graphene on the anode surface.
- Storing Hydrogen for fuel cell powered cars.
Demerits:
- Being a great conductor of electricity, although it doesn’t have a band gap (can’t be switched off). Scientists are working on rectifying this.
- The main disadvantage of graphene as a catalyst is its susceptibility to oxidative environments.
- Research has proven that graphene exhibits some toxic qualities. Scientists discovered that graphene features jagged edges that can easily pierce cell membranes, allowing it to enter into the cell and disrupt normal functions.
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