Imagine a metal so thin, it’s only one atom thick! 😲 Sounds like science fiction, right? Well, it’s real!
Scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences have created the world’s thinnest metals—so thin, they’re just one 200,000th the diameter of a human hair! 🧪✨
If you took a 3-meter-long metal cube and spread it out into a single-atom-thick layer, it would cover the entire ground surface of Beijing! 🏙️ That’s how incredibly thin these metals are.
Since 2004, when a super-thin material called graphene was discovered, scientists have been exploring two-dimensional (2D) materials—materials that are only one atom thick. But making 2D metals has been really tricky because metal atoms like to stick together tightly in all directions.
By using a special method called van der Waals squeezing, the scientists were able to create ultra-thin layers of metals like bismuth, tin, lead, indium, and gallium. 🧪 This is a big deal because it fills a missing piece in the world of 2D materials!
This breakthrough could lead to amazing new technologies! 🚀 Think ultra-tiny and super-fast computers, super clear screens, or super-efficient ways to make energy.
Just like metals brought us the Bronze Age and Iron Age, these new 2D metals could kick-start a whole new era of awesome inventions! 🌟 Who knows what cool gadgets and technology we’ll have in the future thanks to this discovery?
Reference(s):
Pioneering Chinese scientists shaping future of 2D metal research
cgtn.com
