A team of European researchers has become one of the first groups to successfully synthesize the 2D material germanene. Dubbed a 'cousin of graphene', the material, which is made up of just a single layer of germanium atoms, is expected to exhibit impressive electrical and optical properties and could be widely integrated across the electronics industry in the future.

The material has been presented today, 10 September, in the Institute of Physics and German Physical Society's New Journal of Physics.

Germanene was first proposed in 2009 but has, up until now, remained elusive. Since then, graphene has been developed further whilst other 2D materials, such as silicene, have been synthesized.

Much like silicene, the proposed method for synthesising germanene is to deposit individual germanium atoms onto a substrate under high temperatures and in an ultra-high vacuum.

The breakthrough by the European research team was made in parallel with an independent team from China who have reported evidence that germanene has been synthesized onto a platinum substrate.

In the current study the researchers discovered, rather serendipitously, that gold could also be used as a substrate, an event which co-author of the study Professor Guy Le Lay, from Aix-Marseille University, described as 'like passing through the looking glass'.

'Following our synthesis of graphene's other cousin, silicene, we thought it natural to try and produce germanene in the same way, by despositing germanium onto a silver substrate,' Le Lay said.

'This attempt failed, so I decided to switch to a gold substrate, having remembered my old work from my PhD thesis, in which gold was grown onto a germanium substrate. I thought it would be worth trying the other way around.'