Plot of energy levels of electrons in trisodium bismuthide showing that this bulk material has properties similar to graphene.
The discovery of a material that has a similar electronic structure to graphene but can exist in three dimensions, instead of a flat sheet like graphene, could lead to faster transistors and more compact hard drives. An international team, led by scientists from Oxford University, Stanford University, and Berkeley Lab's Advanced Light Source, has discovered that sodium bismuthate can exist as a form of quantum matter called a three-dimensional topological Dirac semi-metal (3DTDS). Scientists have long been searching for a natural 3D counterpart to 2D graphene (a one atom thick layer of carbon that is prized for its electronic properties). Whilst 3DTDS states had been predicted by theorists this is the first experimental confirmation that such a type of material exists and could lead to the discovery of many more exotic materials. A report of 'The 3DTDS we have found has a lot in common with graphene and is likely to be as good or even better in terms of electron mobility - a measure of both how fast and how efficiently an electron can move through a material,' said Dr Yulin Chen of Oxford University's Department of Physics, lead author of the report. 'You can think of the electronic structure of the 3DTDS as being rather like that of the graphene - the so called ''Dirac cone'' where electrons collectively act as if they forget their mass - but instead of flowing masslessly within a single sheet of atoms, the electrons in a 3DTDS flow masslessly along all directions in the bulk.
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