2D kit will be first in the UK

RESEARCHERS in cuttingedge technology have received a £2 million grant to further their work.

The money will allow Loughborough University to invest in a state-of-art thin film equipment, which will be the first of its kind in the UK.

The new hardware will allow physicists in the School of Science to develop functional nanodevices that use 2D materials such as graphene, metal dichalcogenides and borophene.

Scientists will be able to create nanometre-sized structures for use in electronic circuits and chips, such as those found in computers, phones and tablets without the need for a cleanroom.

They said next-generation 2D materials could have applications in quantum technologies and advanced solar energy harvesting devices.

Dr Pavel Borisov, of the School of Science, said: “We plan to use thin films of 2D materials to design novel, nanometre-sized resistors and capacitors that can mimic the way neural cells operate in the mammal brain, for example by changing their resistance and capacitance values after being exposed to series of electric voltage pulses.

“The artificial electronic analogues are very promising for the next generation of electronic devices for artificial intelligence applications and would allow energy-efficient operation of neural networks.”

Professor Kelly Morrison, also of the School of Science, said: “It’s exciting to imagine the new physics we will be able to explore with this equipment, such as the development of 2D metamaterials that would revolutionise the next generation of computing.”

The equipment is expected to arrive at the university towards the end of 2022.

The money was granted by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.