Indian scientists at the Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar, in the state of Gujarat, have claimed to have created the world’s thinnest material, 100,000 times narrower than a sheet of paper — a two-dimensional material of just one-nanometer thickness. The three member research team includes two students working toward a PhD: Harini Gunda, and Saroj Kumar Das; and Professor Kabeer Jasuja, a Ph.D. from Kansas State University.
“We prepared boron-rich nanosheets by an extremely simple method, which merely involves dissolving a boride compound in water and letting it recrystallize for just the right duration of time,” Dr. Kabeer Jasuja of the university’s Department of Chemical Engineering explained. “The rich chemistry of boron is expected to make these nanosheets useful for not only storing energy but also for generating energy in a green way. We are now working towards utilizing these nanosheets for developing the next generation batteries and nanocatalysts,” added Jasuja.
Boron has long been a topic of interest to researchers due to its properties: low density, high mechanical strength, high thermal resistance, high melting point, its ability to absorb neutrons, and its high resistance to chemical attacks.
