QDev Seminar: Cristine de Morais Smith

Utrecht University

Graphene: the good, the bad, the nano & the pseudo
 
Graphene is probably the most fascinating material ever discovered, but it has some drawbacks: it is not superconducting, it does not exhibit the quantum spin Hall effect, and its magnetic properties are controversial. The interesting electronic properties of graphene, such as the presence of charge carriers that behave as if they would have no mass, are rooted on the honeycomb lattice of the carbon atoms. This insight provides a unique opportunity: by creating honeycomb lattices of materials other than carbon, the effects conferred by the atoms can be combined with those conferred by the honeycomb lattice and novel materials, with unexpected properties, may emerge. A key question in this regard is: if we build a honeycomb lattice of semiconducting nanocrystals, is it going to behave like graphene or like the semiconducting building blocks?
 
In the first part of the talk, I will show that these systems, which have been experimentally synthesized recently [1], combine the best of the two materials. Honeycomb lattices of semiconducting nanocrystals