Shulou(Shulou.com)06/03 Report--

When it comes to two-dimensional materials, most people will feel quite strange. But among a series of technologies that could generate stories with AI, the development of two-dimensional materials in 2018 is quite amazing.

Two-dimensional materials are materials in which electrons can only move freely on a non-nanoscale (1-100nm) in two dimensions. Although this sentence is difficult to understand, when it comes to graphene, we are bound to say "Soga".

Yes, graphene, which has been very hot in recent years, is a typical two-dimensional material. The structure and shape are thin and light enough, the toughness is stronger, the light transmittance is stronger, and the heat conduction efficiency is also stronger. Of course, this kind of material is also farther away from the practical application.

In addition to graphene, which we are most familiar with, topological insulators, transition metal sulfides, black phosphorus and so on are also two-dimensional materials. Today's issue of "Friends of AI" will talk about how far two-dimensional materials have gone this year.

In addition to graphene, we also found these two-dimensional materials last year.

As an immature technology, the most interesting thing about two-dimensional materials is that there is still a lot of uncertainty in the material itself. In 2018, the most basic progress of two-dimensional materials is that more and more kinds of materials have been discovered by us.

There are many kinds of emerging materials this year, and there are two kinds of great progress, one is two-dimensional perovskite, and the other is antimonene. The former has excellent optoelectronic properties, strong light transmission and light absorption capacity, and may have unexpected applications in batteries, LED displays, lighting equipment and so on. The latter is more stable and suitable for lasers, flexible devices and so on.

Especially in the first half of this year, a paper in Nature magazine proposed a kind of "two-dimensional transition metal chalcogenide". Through the latest synthesis strategy, 47 kinds of two-dimensional materials can be synthesized in one step, including 17 kinds of highly applied metal materials.

For two-dimensional materials, the increase in types and the efficiency of synthesis means one thing-the cost of two-dimensional materials is decreasing, and the efficiency of mass production is also improving rapidly.

The use of two-dimensional materials will always be Numb1.

The reason why we are addicted to two-dimensional materials is that this ultra-light, ultra-thin, ultra-tough material, like BUG, can satisfy our imagination of the future world. Think the phone can be lighter and thinner? A soft two-dimensional material LCD screen combined with a two-dimensional material transistor allows the phone to roll into a pencil like a scroll. The manned rocket didn't fly far enough because of fuel problems? Replacing it with a two-dimensional material can greatly reduce the weight and solve the energy problem.

Of course, these are brain-hole uses, most of which are inferred from the physical properties of two-dimensional materials and can only be achieved under extremely ideal conditions. However, in 2018, an important development about two-dimensional materials is that there are more practical solutions in the way they are applied.

The recent research results of Purdue University and the National Institute of Standards and Technology are one of the typical examples.

In the past, the flash memory we used has been difficult to achieve a breakthrough in terms of shape and capacity. In order to create a memory with smaller shape, faster access and storage, and larger capacity, the researchers used a two-dimensional material called molybdenum telluride. This material can be stacked together to make a "resistive memory". When the external voltage changes, the material can "remember" the change in resistance, thus forming a distinction between 0 and 1. Because molybdenum telluride is extremely stable and can withstand numerous resistance changes, this resistance memory storage mode can finally be applied.

Maybe in a few years, we will be able to use this brand-new storage unit on computers and mobile phones.

When graphene appeared in long johns

Of course, what attracts us more is the specific production process of two-dimensional materials. Which mass-produced products do they appear in, and whether we have applied them or not, these questions about productization are closer to those of us ordinary consumers than the not uncommon scientific progress.

Frankly speaking, although the types of two-dimensional materials have emerged one after another over the years, graphene is the "old drama bone" that has made rapid progress in production. However, there are two directions for the development of old drama bones, one of which is the "bad film cameo" style. Frequently appear in some treasure, crowdfunding sites and other places sold electric blankets, quilts, shoes, autumn clothes long johns and other products, the result does not need to think about, naturally is fake. The other is the direction of "minority literary films". Although there is progress, it is still far from people's expectations. Just like the graphene film used by Huawei on the Mate 20X this year, not to mention the contribution of graphene film and liquid cooling technology to the heat dissipation, but from the point of view of onlookers, people are more expected to produce graphene batteries that are fully charged in one second.

On the positive side, the two-dimensional material represented by graphene has indeed made a lot of progress in production this year, but on the bad side, the concept of two-dimensional material is not far from being fried.

From the starting point of two-dimensional materials to the other side of AIoT

For the industrial development of AI, the lightweight and small size of two-dimensional materials may bring endless imagination to AIoT.

At present, one of the big shackles of the development of AIoT is the computing space of data. In the family scenario, if you upload data to cloud computing, you will face data security and privacy problems. If you apply terminal computing, you need to have a device with sufficient computing power at home all the time. Just like in Apple's home AIoT design, it uses the iPad as the "computing hub" for all devices.

But with the application of two-dimensional materials, the volume of GPU chips and memory can become very small and can be accommodated in a variety of devices, which can store more data and allow local computing to be done in terminal devices. For example, after the application of two-dimensional materials on the sports bracelet we usually wear, the data will not be transmitted to the mobile phone, and our daily movement and physical sign data can be collected and analyzed at the end of the bracelet, coupled with the high flexibility of two-dimensional materials. the shape of the bracelet can also be more flexible.

In a broader context, lightweight, high-energy two-dimensional materials can make AIoT devices more expandable. If you want to connect the product to the Internet of things, you no longer need to build a chip from the production stage, but use two-dimensional material external products to complete the data collection and calculation. Take some refrigerators that can detect the freshness of food, for example, most of them are built-in cameras and determined by image recognition algorithms. However, with the two-dimensional material, the external camera which is active and small and can complete the terminal technology can be placed inside the refrigerator to complete the upgrading of the Internet of things of home appliances.

But what we need to understand is that in a series of technological developments related to AI, two-dimensional materials are the most complex system and the most elementary development, but also the hottest concept. While technological research and development is still looking for ways to make two-dimensional materials, some businesses have begun to put "graphene" in quilts and long johns. This situation is obviously unhealthy.

We can see what a bright future two-dimensional materials and AI can create on the other side. But don't forget that we are still standing above the starting point.

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