January 30, 2011  Molybdenite better than silicon and in some
ways graphene for computer chips  Molybdenite can make smaller
and 100,000 times more energy-efficient electronic chips.
Molybdenite is abundant in nature, is often used as an element
in steel alloys or as an additive in lubricants. It’s a two-
dimensional material, very thin and easy to use in
nanotechnology. It has real potential in the fabrication of very
small transistors, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and solar cells.
One of molybdenite's advantages is that it is less voluminous
than silicon, which is a three-dimensional material. "In a
0.65-nanometer-thick sheet of MoS2, the electrons can move
around as easily as in a 2-nanometer-thick sheet of silicon,"
explains Kis. "But it's not currently possible to fabricate a
sheet of silicon as thin as a monolayer sheet of MoS2." (H/T
nanopatents and innovations)  Another advantage of molybdenite
is that it can be used to make transistors that consume 100,000
times less energy in standby state than trad