Researchers Study Ultra Thin Materials Using Electron Microscope

A research group from Ecole Polytechnique Federale De Lausanne (EPFL) are studying the appearance of ultra thin materials using an electron microscope. The results of the study have been published in the journal Nano Letters.

According to the research programme, single layers of a new semi conducting material molybdenum disulphide (MoS2), which is usually used as a lubricant has regularly patterned crystalline structures and also consists of ripples. The group has also found out that like graphene, MoS2 also can be separated into different layers. The difference between graphene and MoS2 is that MoS2 has a band gap and this property can enable manufacturers to use it for high efficiency of transistors.

The research group has also reported findings of a study of free- standing MoS2 membranes without the use of any support. The group found out the material contained ripples which make the material highly resistant to electricity and hope to remove those ripples to enhance the electronic properties of MoS2. The new method of fabrication will also allow future measurement techniques to be combined into the nanomaterial. The research group conducted this study under partnership with Duncan Alexander who is from EPFL’s Interdisciplinary Centre for Electron Microscopy.