Ultra-thin materials are poised to transform technology – Archinect

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The molecular structure of Graphene, which is made up of extremely thin layers of carbon. Image courtesy of Wikimedia user AlexanderAlUS.

two-dimensional materials will be the linchpin of the internet of everything. They will be painted on bridges and form the sensors to watch for strain and cracks. They will cover windows with transparent layers that become visible only when information is displayed. And if his teams radio wave-absorber succeeds, it will power those ever-present electronics. Increasingly, the future looks flat. The New York Times

Amos Zeeberg of The New York Timestakes a look at the wide world of super-thin materials, a growing class of substances that have the potential to reshape humanity's technological capabilities.

The materials include graphene, an incredibly strong and conductive "2-D form of carbon" that can be used to create electronics, including fast-charging batteries and hydrogen fuel cells. Other materials, likemolybdenum disulfide(MoS2), can be embedded within concrete to create stress sensors or "painted" on to surfaces to, for example, convert table tops into battery charging membranes.

"Increasingly," as Zeeberg puts it, "the future looks flat."

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Ultra-thin materials are poised to transform technology - Archinect