{"id":165739,"date":"2023-06-14T07:23:51","date_gmt":"2023-06-14T12:23:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2023\/06\/graphenes-cousin-makes-a-switchable-topological-insulator"},"modified":"2023-06-14T07:23:51","modified_gmt":"2023-06-14T12:23:51","slug":"graphenes-cousin-makes-a-switchable-topological-insulator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2023\/06\/graphenes-cousin-makes-a-switchable-topological-insulator","title":{"rendered":"Graphene\u2019s \u2018cousin\u2019 makes a switchable topological insulator"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"aligncenter blog-photo\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog.images\/graphenes-cousin-makes-a-switchable-topological-insulator.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Germanene \u2013 a two-dimensional, graphene-like form of the element germanium \u2013 can carry electricity along its edges with no resistance. This unusual behaviour is characteristic of materials known as topological insulators, and the researchers who observed it say the phenomenon could be used to make faster and more energy-efficient electronic devices.<\/p>\n<p>Like graphene, germanene is an atomically thin material with a honeycomb structure. Like graphene, germanene\u2019s electronic band structure contains a point at which the valence and conduction bands meet. At this meeting point, spin-orbit coupling creates a narrow gap between the bands within the material\u2019s bulk, causing it to act as an insulator. Along the material\u2019s edges, however, special topological states arise that bridge this gap and allow electrons to flow unhindered.<\/p>\n<p>\\r \\r<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Germanene \u2013 a two-dimensional, graphene-like form of the element germanium \u2013 can carry electricity along its edges with no resistance. This unusual behaviour is characteristic of materials known as topological insulators, and the researchers who observed it say the phenomenon could be used to make faster and more energy-efficient electronic devices. Like graphene, germanene is [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":599,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1497,1635],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-165739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-energy","category-materials"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/599"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165739\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}