Silicon and Germanium are two of the most technologically significant and ubiquitous materials of our time, and used in everything from computing to thermoelectrics, to batteries, to photovoltaics. Just as carbon can be sculpted to form 0D fullerenes, 1D nanotubes, and 2D graphene with fundamentally different and transformative properties, here we demonstrate that it is possible to create similar dimensionally-reduced derivatives of Si and Ge.  Here, we shall discuss our recent success in the creation of stable, oxidation-resistant �silicanes� and �germananes�  - the ligand-terminated Si and Ge graphane analogues.   These materials feature direct band gaps and significantly enhanced electron mobilities compared to bulk crystalline Si and Ge.   Furthermore, we will show that it is possible to chemically substitute the terminating ligand in these 2D materials to fine-tune their optical and electronic properties. This dramatic tailoring of the band structure with surface functionalization is truly only possible on these single atom-thick materials, and can offer unprecedented control towards the rational design of optoelectronics, thermoelectrics, spintronics, and chemical/biochemical sensor materials.

Germananes and silicanes: 2D germanium and silicon graphane analogs

246th National Meeting (2013)

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