Snapping together one-atom-thick sheets of material creates substances with completely new properties—and amazing possibilities
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Generations of minds have been inspired by Legos, the small, snap-together plastic blocks. These blocks have become fantastic cars, elaborate castles and many other whole creations that are greater than the sum of their parts. Today a generation of materials scientists is being inspired by a new type of Legos: building blocks on the atomic scale.
These new construction elements are sheets of materials that can be as thin as just one atom and can be stacked, one on top of another, in a designed, precise sequence. This unprecedented fine construction control can produce substances with electrical and optical properties that have been impossible to create before. And they are allowing scientists to imagine devices made of materials that conduct electricity with very little resistance, faster and more powerful computers, and wearable electronic gadgets that could be bendable, foldable and incredibly lightweight.
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