Prediction of new 2D materials: after graphene and silicene, now a hint of germanene synthesis

Abstract

Theoretical calculations by Kyozaburo Takeda and Kenji Shiraishi predicted 20 years ago the possible existence and properties of 2D- new materials, later called : graphene, silicene and germanene. For the experimental discovery of graphene in 2004, Andrei Geim and Konstantin Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics; since then, many experiments by the international community developed different forms of preparation and isolation of this material and their use in nanoelectronic devices. Later, the discovery of silicene by a team of researchers from Germany, Italy and France, with Drs Patrick Vogt, Paola de Padova and Prof. Guy Le Lay occured in 2012. In the last two years, scientists around the world have demonstrated that this material can be obtained on a few substrates. Now, we will show evidence of the two-dimensional epitaxial growth of germanium in in a honeycomb arrangement, most likely, single layer germanene, a novel synthetic germanium allotrope that does not exist in nature. If true, this will complete the theoretical predictions presented years ago, offering 2D-new materials with exciting properties, with the potential to replace the silicon based traditional CMOS for a number of electronic applications.