Polymer with honeycomb structure

(Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research (EMPA)) Two-dimensional carbon layers, so-called graphenes, are regarded as a possible substitute for silicon in the semiconductor industry. The electronic properties of these layers can be varied by “building in” specific arrays of holes in their structure. Physicists at Empa, together with chemists from the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz have, for the first time, succeeded in synthesizing a graphene-like porous polymer with atomic accuracy.