The Future of Electronics is Just One Single Molecule Thick
Molybdenum disulfide works in ways single-atom-thick graphene won't, opening the door to a range of new electronics applications Where electronics are concerned, the future is two-dimensional and very, very thin. One molecule thin, to be exact. That's not quite as thin as a sheet of graphene, but new research from MIT shows that while one-atom-thick graphene shows exceptional strength and other novel properties, the future of electronics lies with materials like molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) that are a couple of atoms thicker but much, much easier to work with. MoS2 isn't a new material by any means--it's been used as an industrial lubricant for decades--but in its 2-D form it is one of the newest and most exciting materials that electronics researchers and materials scientists have to work with. A Swiss team described its 2-D potential for the first time just last year, and now a team of MIT researchers have developed a...