Researchers at Northwestern University—led by Mark Hersam, a Northwestern professor at the forefront of investigating the potential of a variety of 2D materials—have taken a significant step beyond merely characterizing borophene and have started to move towards making nanoelectronic devices from it.
In research described in the journal Science Advances, Hersam’s team has for the first time combined borophene with another material to create a heterostructure, which is a fundamental building block for electronic devices. Since this work represents the first demonstration of a borophene-based heterostructure, the researchers believe that it will guide future and ongoing research into using borophene for nanoelectronic applications.