Move over, graphene. There's a new, improved two-dimensional material in the lab. Borophene, the atomically thin version of boron first synthesized in 2015, is more conductive, thinner, lighter, stronger and more flexible than graphene, the 2D version of carbon. Now, researchers have made the material potentially more useful by imparting chirality -- or handedness -- on it, which could make for advanced sensors and implantable medical devices.
Chirality refers to similar but not identical physicality, like left and right hands. In molecules, chirality can make biological or chemical units exist in two versions that cannot be perfectly matched, as in a left and right mitten. They can mirror each other precisely, but a left mitten will never fit the right hand as well as it fits the left hand.
The researchers synthesized borophene platelets -- similar to the cellular fragments found in blood -- using solution state synthesis, which involves exposing a powdered version of the material in a liquid to one or more external factors, such as heat or pressure, until they combine into the desired product.
According to Pan, this finding could inform future applications, such as development of higher-resolution medical imaging with contrast that could precisely track cell interactions or better drug delivery with pinpointed material-cell interactions. Critically, he said, understanding how the material interacts with cells -- and controlling those interactions -- could one day lead to safer, more effective implantable medical devices.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Department of Defense partially supported this research.Researchers have developed the first cardiac implant made from graphene, a two-dimensional super material with ultra-strong, lightweight and conductive properties. Similar in appearance to a ...
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