Chemistry Graduate Seminar presented by Professor Zhongfang Chen, University of Puerto Rico Río Piedras; Hosted by: Prof. Arthur D. Tinoco

Discovery and Innovation of Inorganic Graphene Analogues by Computations

The unique properties of carbon nanographene and nanoribbons endow graphene-based materials many applications. Such planar structures are not limited to carbon, the inorganic graphene analogues also exhibit many intriguing properties. Here we will present our recent and ongoing efforts in exploring the intrinsic properties and applications of some important and representative inorganic nanographenes such as MoS2, BN, and designing emerging two-dimensional (2D) nanostructures such as SiC2, Al2C and Be2C, by means of density functional computations. Especially, the SiC2, Al2C and Be2C monolayers have rather unusual chemical bonding: the Si/C atoms in SiC2/Al2C adopt planar tetracoordinate configuration, while Be2C contains planar hexacoordinate carbon moieties. The high stabilities of these yet-hypothetical systems strongly suggest the feasibility for experimental realization, and we are calling for experimental efforts and further investigations on nanomaterials with novel chemical bonding, especially on the rule-breaking systems.