In a recent study conducted by researchers at Penn State, borophene, a two-dimensional material made of boron, has been found to have properties that surpass graphene, the 2D version of carbon. Borophene is more conductive, thinner, lighter, stronger, and more flexible than graphene. The researchers have made this material even more promising by introducing chirality, or handedness, to it, which has the potential to advance sensors and implantable medical devices. This chirality, induced using a novel method, allows borophene to interact uniquely with various biological units like cells and protein precursors.
The team, led by Dipanjan Pan, a professor at Penn State, published their groundbreaking work in ACS Nano. Pan explained that borophene closely resembles carbon in terms of atomic weight and electron structure but exhibits even more remarkable properties. This study is the first to investigate the biological interactions of borophene and the first to introduce chirality to borophene structures.
Chirality involves the physical property of mirroring, like the difference between left and right hands. In molecules, chirality can result in biological or chemical units existing in two non-identical versions, similar to left and right mittens. While these versions can mirror each other exactly, a left mitten will never fit the right hand as well as it fits the left hand. This study sheds light on the potential applications and interactions of borophene in the field of nanotechnology and biomaterials.