Scientists have conducted pioneering research into one-dimensional metals that exhibit unusual properties.
In a report published in the journal Advanced Materials, engineers at the University of California (UC), Riverside have invented a roll of film using a quasi-1D nanomaterial filler that offers excellent electromagnetic shielding. Great and easy to manufacture.
Study author Professor Alexander A. Balandin at UC Riverside’s Marlan and Rosemary Bourns College of Engineering said: “These novel films hold promise for high-frequency communication technologies, which require membranes. Electromagnetic interference shields must be flexible, lightweight, corrosion resistant, cheap and insulating.”
1D materials are created by Van der Waals forces.
Electromagnetic interference, or EMI , occurs when signals from electronic devices “meet each other”, affecting performance. For example, the signal from the Wi-Fi of a mobile phone or laptop, or even from a blender in the kitchen, can interfere with the TV screen.
Similarly, airlines instruct passengers to turn off cell phones during landing and takeoff. The reason is, the signal of these devices can disrupt the navigation signal.
Engineers have known for a long time that any electrical device can affect the operation of a nearby device. So they developed materials to protect electronics from interfering signals. But now, more electronic devices mean that people are also exposed to greater electromagnetic radiation than before. New shielding materials will be needed for the next generation of electronics.
The team developed composites with unusual substances, through Van der Waals forces . Composites have been shown to inhibit EMI particularly in the gigahertz and sub-terahertz frequency bands, while still insulating.
Graphene is the most famous Van der Waals material. Multiple planes of graphene, weakly linked by Van der Waals forces. For many years, research has focused specifically on 2D layered Van der Waals materials.
Van der Waals 1D materials consist of strongly bound chains of atoms, rather than planes, that are weakly bound by Van der Waals forces. Such materials turn into a needle-like “one-dimensional” structure, rather than a two-dimensional plane.
Professor Balandin and colleagues used a chemical process that could be scaled up to mass-produce this one-dimensional material.
Professor Balandin said that the study of atomic bundles of such a nearly 1D Van der Waals material is only at the beginning.
“I’m sure we’ll soon see a lot of progress with quasi-1D Van der Waals materials, as happened with quasi-2D materials,” the researcher said.