For the first time, physicists from the University of Basel have produced a graphene compound consisting of carbon atoms and a small number of nitrogen atoms in a regular grid of hexagons and triangles. This honeycomb-structured "kagome lattice" behaves as a semiconductor and may also have unusual electrical properties. In the future, it could potentially be used in electronic sensors or quantum computers.
Researchers around the world are searching for new synthetic materials with special properties such as superconductivity -- that is, the conduction of electric current without resistance. These new substances are an important step in the development of highly energy-efficient electronics. The starting material is often a single-layer honeycomb structure of carbon atoms (graphene).
Theoretical calculations predict that the compound known as "kagome graphene" should have completely different properties to graphene. Kagome graphene consists of a regular pattern of hexagons and equilateral triangles that surround one another. The name "kagome" comes from Japanese and refers to the old Japanese art of kagome weaving, in which baskets were woven in the aforementioned pattern.
To read more, click here.