America
Indian-origin scientists develop new super-thin material
New York, Aug 4
Indian-origin scientists
Swastik Kar and Srinivas Sridhar have developed a new super-thin
light-weight material with potential applications in a range of tools
that we use everyday -- from cameras to computers, says a new study.
The
new material spun out of boron, nitrogen, carbon, and oxygen shows
evidence of magnetic, optical, and electrical properties as well as
thermal sensitivity.
Its potential applications run the gamut:
from 20-megapixel arrays for cellphone cameras to photo detectors to
atomically thin transistors that when multiplied by the billions could
fuel computers, the study said.
The researchers from Northwestern
University in Illinois, US found the material while working for a
four-year project funded by the US Army Research Laboratory and Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency.
They were charged with imbuing
graphene with thermal sensitivity for use in infrared imaging devices
such as night-vision goggles for the military.
Kar and Sridhar
spent a lot of time trying to get rid of oxygen seeping into their brew,
worried that it would contaminate the “pure†material they were seeking
to develop.
"That’s where the Aha! moment happened for us,†said Kar, assistant professor of physics in the College of Science.
"We
realised we could not ignore the role that oxygen plays in the way
these elements mix together,†Kar, an alumnus of Indian Institute of
Science, Bangalore, noted.
"So instead of trying to remove
oxygen, we thought: Let’s control its introduction,†Sridhar, professor
of physics and director of Northeastern’s Electronic Materials Research
Institute, said.
Oxygen, it turned out, was behaving in the
reaction chamber in a way the scientists had never anticipated: It was
determining how the other elements -- boron, carbon, and nitrogen --
combined in a solid, crystal form, while also inserting itself into the
lattice.
They named the new material 2D-BNCO, representing the
four elements in the mix and the two-dimensionality of the super-thin
lightweight material, and set about characterising and manufacturing it,
to ensure it was both reproducible and scalable.
The findings appeared in the journal Science Advances.