Theorists Predict New Single-Layer Material Could Go Beyond Graphene, Conducting Electricity with 100 Percent Efficiency at Room Temperature

Menlo Park, Calif. — A single layer of tin atoms could be the world’s first material to conduct electricity with 100 percent efficiency at the temperatures that computer chips operate, according to a team of theoretical physicists led by researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University.

Researchers call the new material “stanene,” combining the Latin name for tin (stannum) with the suffix used in graphene, another single-layer material whose novel electrical properties hold promise for a wide range of applications.

“Stanene could increase the speed and lower the power needs of future generations of computer chips, if our prediction is confirmed by experiments that are underway in several laboratories around the world,” said the team leader, Shoucheng Zhang, a physics professor at Stanford and the Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences (SIMES), a joint institute with SLAC. The team’s work was published recently in Physical Review Letters.

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To get some idea of where these materials can go, what would a 100% efficient conductor do for an induction motor? Consecutive layers of graphene and stanene would likely make a good composite for various applications if this new stuff proves reliable?

Riff-in-Thyme said:

To get some idea of where these materials can go(outside of supercomputer chips), what would a 100% efficient conductor do for an induction motor? Consecutive layers of graphene and stanene would likely make a good composite for various applications if this new stuff proves reliable?

ie, a) if the coil produces no heat, does this introduce the possibility of the inclusion of superconducting bearings in an electric motor?

b) would a coil that is conducting with 100% efficiency produce a more coherent magnetic field that is more kinetically efficient(spin faster with more gyroscopic stability?