Noah Stocek, a PhD trainee teaming up with Western University physicist Giovanni Fanchini, has established a brand-new nanomaterial that shows the opposite of this phenomenon.Working at Interface Science Western, home of the Tandetron Accelerator Facility, Stocek, and Fanchini formulated two-dimensional nanosheets of tungsten semi-carbide (or W2C, a chemical substance including equivalent parts of tungsten and carbon atoms) which when extended in one direction, expand perpendicular to the applied force.” We were specifically looking to produce a two-dimensional nanomaterial from tungsten semi-carbide,” said Stocek.” It wasnt possible to build the brand-new tungsten semi-carbide nanomaterial using chemical ways, so Stocek and Fanchini relied on plasma physics to form the single-atom layers.” Thats where most researchers who tried to get this product before us got stuck, so we had to pivot,” stated Fanchini.Instead of heating a gas made of tungsten and carbon atoms in heaters, which would produce neutral particles as you would get for solids, liquids or gases, Stocek and Fanchini designed a new customized instrumentation that produces a plasma, which is made up of electrically charged particles.Western University PhD student Noah Stocek with the tailored instrumentation he developed with Giovanni Fanchini that produces brand-new record-setting two-dimensional nanomaterial.” Reference: “Giant auxetic behavior in remote-plasma manufactured few-layer tungsten semicarbide” by Noah B. Stocek, Farman Ullah and Giovanni Fanchini, 8 April 2024, Materials Horizons.DOI: 10.1039/ D3MH02193AFunding: NSERC DG, Ontario Graduate Scholarship, NSERC Strategic Partnership Grant, NSERC RTI, Canada Foundation for Innovation, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
Noah Stocek, a PhD student collaborating with Western University physicist Giovanni Fanchini, has developed a brand-new nanomaterial that shows the reverse of this phenomenon.Working at Interface Science Western, home of the Tandetron Accelerator Facility, Stocek, and Fanchini developed two-dimensional nanosheets of tungsten semi-carbide (or W2C, a chemical substance consisting of equivalent parts of tungsten and carbon atoms) which when stretched in one direction, broaden perpendicular to the used force.” It wasnt possible to build the brand-new tungsten semi-carbide nanomaterial using chemical methods, so Stocek and Fanchini relied on plasma physics to form the single-atom layers.” Thats where most researchers who tried to get this product before us got stuck, so we had to pivot,” said Fanchini.Instead of heating a gas made of tungsten and carbon atoms in furnaces, which would produce neutral particles as you would get for solids, gases or liquids, Stocek and Fanchini created a brand-new tailored instrumentation that produces a plasma, which is made up of electrically charged particles.Western University PhD student Noah Stocek with the tailored instrumentation he designed with Giovanni Fanchini that produces brand-new record-setting two-dimensional nanomaterial.