Wenzhuo Wu, the Ravi and Eleanor Talwar Rising Star Assistant Professor of Industrial Engineering, is the first and co-corresponding author of "Tellurene: its physical properties, scalable nanomanufacturing, and device applications". He collaborated with Peide Ye, the Richard J. and Mary Jo Schwartz Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

The Wu Group was the first to report the synthesis and experimental study of tellurene in Nature Electronics. Derived from the rare element tellurium, tellurene can be used to make high-speed electronics faster. 

Abstract

Tellurium (Te) has a trigonal crystal lattice with inherent structural anisotropy. Te is multifunctional, e.g., semiconducting, photoconductive, thermoelectric, piezoelectric, etc., for applications in electronics, sensors, optoelectronics, and energy devices. Due to the inherent structural anisotropy, previously reported synthetic methods predominantly yield one-dimensional (1D) Te nanostructures. Much less is known about 2D Te nanostructures, their processing schemes, and their material properties. This review focuses on the synthesis and morphology control of emerging 2D tellurene and summarizes the latest developments in understanding the fundamental properties of monolayer and few-layer tellurene, as well as the recent advances in demonstrating prototypical tellurene devices. Finally, the prospects for future research and application opportunities as well as the accompanying challenges of 2D tellurene are summarized and highlighted.

Read more about tellurene: Rare element to provide better material for high-speed electronics (May 30, 2018)

Chemical Society Reviews is the Royal Society of Chemistry's leading reviews journal, publishing high-impact, succinct and reader-friendly articles at the forefront of the chemical sciences, ranking 5th among all journals and first among all “Chemical & Materials Sciences” journals, according to 2018 Google Scholar Metrics.