Is Molybdenite the Next Graphene?
I came across an interesting article this morning while conducting my industry and scientific research for my companies NeoTerra Capital and Sunfire Ventures.
Remember a few months ago we were seeing articles on how graphene was the material to succeed silicon and other commonly used materials in electronics, battery storage, displays etc.? A Nobel prize was even given out to the scientists who discovered how to feasibly harness the material for applications. Well, looks like there is a new kid on the block and its name is molybdenite and it may be orders of magnitude more impressive.
In an article in PopSci, the author describes the findings by a team from EPFL’s Laboratory of Nanoscale Electronics and Structures on how this ABUNDANT material could possibly trump silicon and graphene.
Molybdenite has very similar properties to graphene, including its 2-D structure but its physical make-up allows better control over its electrical properties for electronics applications. I am guessing that applications using molybdenite will be able to hold their charge better and avoid electron jumping, reducing errors in processing.
In relation to silicon, electrons can move around as freely in a 0.65-nanometer-thick sheet of molybdenite as they can in a 2-nanometer-thick layer of silicon, as a result, roughly one third the space is required to accomplish roughly similar results. Given that Intel and others are fabricating silicon microchips at 32- nanometers, you can see the impending dilemma. Already there have been problems with heat generation through friction at the current scale. As the chips get smaller using the current materials, the resistance problem is only going to get worse, increasing heat, errors and system failure.
When I read the above advantages over graphene and silicon, I immediately thought of the advantages for battery tech. Three drawbacks with current materials used in batteries are energy loss, resistance and heat. Graphene is being heralded as a breakthrough for battery tech for less resistance and the ability to help electrons move and store more efficiently and longer so I can imagine that molybdenite will be able to do a better job allowing for faster charging batteries that hold more charge with less loss, for longer periods of time.
Another theoretical advantage that molybdenite has over silicon is it possesses an ideal “gap” for turning transistors on and off allowing for roughly a 100,000 times less energy to be consumed than its silicon counterpart with significantly less heat generated. Microchips that consumer less energy means more battery life. Less heat being generated means a reduced need for internal fans to keep out computer systems cool therefore smaller, lighter systems with even longer battery life. Given that molybdenite has a 2-D structure like graphene means that we will be seeing translucent / transparent flexible circuitry applications such as transparent fold able displays and systems.
It would be interesting to find out how molybdenite can advance solid state memory technology. I will definitely be keeping my eyes on the advances in the research and applications into molybdenite! Very interesting times ahead in the electronics field!