First synthesised in 2015, this boron-based material is stronger and more flexible than its predecessor, as well as being lightweight and highly reactive. Although it is difficult to create and handle, chemists, physicists and other scientists are already excited about its potential applications.
The history of this material is very short. Physicists predicted its existence in the 1990s through computer simulations showing how boron atoms could form a monolayer. But this exotic substance was only synthesised in 2015. by chemical vapour deposition. This is a process in which a hot gas of boron atoms condenses on a cold surface of pure silver.
