Investor Updates
Australian scientists produce breakthrough new material for electronics
15 January 2013
Australian scientists from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and Melbourne’s RMIT University, have produced a breakthrough two-dimensional material that could revolutionise the electronics market.
The new material is made up of layers of crystal known as molybdenum oxides and has unique properties that encourage the free flow of electrons at ultra-high speeds; the scientists adapted a revolutionary material known as graphene to create a new conductive nano-material.
The findings from this work have just been published in the international science journal Advanced Materials.
Dr Serge Zhuiykov, from the CSIRO, said that the layered sheets of the new nano-material were similar to the graphite layers that make up the core of a pencil. ‘Within these layers, electrons are able to zip through at high speeds with minimal scattering.’
He explained that the importance of the breakthrough was in how quickly and fluently electrons could flow through the new material.
Professor Kourosh Kalantar-zadeh, from RMIT, said that while more work is needed before actual gadgets using the new 2D nano-material can be developed ‘this breakthrough lays the foundation for a new electronics revolution and we look forward to exploring its potential’.
The CSIRO and RMIT scientists worked on this project in collaboration with researchers at Melbourne’s Monash University, the University of California – Los Angeles (UCLA), and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
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