A New Two-Dimensional Boron Oxide Crystal Created in Trieste

Published in Science, an international study led by CNR-IOM, in collaboration with the Universities of Trieste and Innsbruck and Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste, has for the first time synthesized a two-dimensional crystal of boron oxide, experimentally confirming a structure that had so far only been hypothesized. This result opens up prospects for applications ranging from electronics to catalysis and even quantum technologies.

Alessandro Sala, researcher at CNR-IOM and initiator of the project, explains: “The difference between glass and crystal lies in the degree of order in which atoms are arranged. In boron, however, the glassy phase shows elementary units – boroxine rings – that had never before been observed in crystalline form. For the first time, we succeeded in obtaining a two-dimensional crystalline phase made exclusively of these elements, which until now were typical only of glass.”