Move over graphene! Boron may become the nanomaterial of the century as scientists have found that two-atom-wide ribbons and single-atom chains of the element possess unique properties. For example, if metallic ribbons of boron are stretched, they morph into antiferromagnetic semiconducting chains, and when released they fold back into ribbons.
Experimental labs are making progress in synthesising atom-thin and fullerenetype boron, which led Boris Yakobson, researcher at Rice University in the US to think 1-D boron may eventually become real as well.
Yakobson's lab creates atom-level computer simulations of materials that do not necessarily exist yet. Simulating and testing their energetic properties helps guide ex
perimentalists working to create real-world materials.
Carbon-atom chains known as carbyne, boron fullerenes and two-dimensional films called borophene, all predicted by the Rice group, have since been created by labs. “Our work on carbyne and with planar boron got us thinking that a one-dimensional chain of boron atoms is also a possible and intriguing structure,“ said Yakobson.
One-dimensional boron forms two well-defined phases chains and ribbons which are linked by a “reversible phase transition,“ meaning they can turn from one form to the other and back.
To demonstrate these interesting chemomechanics, the researchers used a computer to “pull“ the ends of a simulated boron ribbon with 64 atoms.