With social development and continuous technological progress, many new materials with unique properties have been discovered and rapidly gained popularity.
When introducing these materials, especially within professional circles, people often label them as “the most promising materials of the 21st century” or “century-defining materials,” emphasizing their strategic importance in shaping future new material technologies.
But do they truly deserve such titles? Let’s take a closer look at these materials and evaluate their potential from a new material perspective.
Graphene
n 2004, Andrew Geim, Konstantin Novoselov, and their colleagues successfully isolated single-layer graphene from flake graphite using mechanical exfoliation.
This milestone marked the birth of the so-called “King of New Material” and revealed graphene’s extraordinary electrical, mechanical, and thermal properties.
Graphene is a two-dimensional crystal composed of tightly packed carbon atoms.
It is currently the thinnest and one of the strongest nanomaterials known.
It features ultra-thin thickness, ultra-light weight, exceptional flexibility, extremely high strength, outstanding electrical conductivity, excellent thermal conductivity, and high optical transparency.
Combining high electron mobility, low resistivity, superior mechanical strength, and excellent heat dissipation, graphene shows enormous potential in electronics, optics, magnetics, biomedicine, catalysis, energy storage, and sensors.
It is widely regarded as a key material that will shape future high-tech competition.
Carbon Fiber
Carbon fiber is another dominant new material in the advanced materials field. It is produced by carbonizing organic fibers at high temperatures in an inert atmosphere, removing non-carbon elements.
Often referred to as “black gold” in industry, carbon fiber has a strength five to eight times that of steel, while weighing only one quarter as much.
It features high strength, low density, high temperature resistance, and corrosion resistance.
Carbon fiber is the preferred material for lightweight reinforcement and is considered a strategic resource for national economies and defense industries.
Carbon Nanotubes
Since their discovery in 1991, carbon nanotubes have remained a major research focus.
Scientists worldwide have extensively studied their thermal and electrical properties. Carbon nanotubes are formed by rolling single-layer or multi-layer graphene sheets.
They can be classified as single-walled, double-walled, or multi-walled nanotubes.
Due to their extremely small size, carbon nanotubes can even enter cells. Their unique structure gives them exceptional mechanical strength, very high carrier mobility, tunable band gaps, excellent thermal performance, optical and electrical properties, and chemical stability. These combined advantages make carbon nanotubes highly promising in engineering materials, electronic devices, energy storage, photodetectors, and biomedical applications.
Diamond
Diamond is the hardest naturally occurring material known, with a Mohs hardness of 10.
In material processing, it is virtually unmatched. Diamond also has one of the highest thermal conductivities found in nature, ranging from 200 to 2200 W/(m·K). In addition, diamond is an ultra-wide-bandgap semiconductor with a bandgap of 5.5 eV.
It offers high electron mobility, high saturation velocity, extremely high breakdown electric field strength, and exceptional thermal conductivity. The Johnson’s figure of merit for diamond power devices is about ten times higher than that of silicon carbide (SiC).
As SiC and GaN power electronics mature, new demands are driving the development of next-generation power devices. Diamond is widely regarded as the most promising material for high-power, high-frequency, high-temperature, and low-loss electronic devices, earning it the title “the ultimate semiconductor.”
Silicon Carbide (SiC)
Silicon carbide is currently the most mature third-generation semiconductor material.
In recent years, it has gained extraordinary momentum. Under the global “dual-carbon” strategy, SiC has become deeply integrated with new energy vehicles, photovoltaics, and energy storage industries. As a result, it is often described as a semiconductor material that is “taking off.”
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Advanced ceramics—also known as fine ceramics, technical ceramics, or high-performance ceramics—are one of the three major solid material categories, alongside metals and polymers. Rather than referring to a single material, advanced ceramics encompass a broad family. Most of them exhibit excellent mechanical, acoustic, optical, thermal, electrical, and biological properties.
They are widely used in aerospace, electronic information, biomedical engineering, and high-end equipment manufacturing. Although ceramics were already used in automotive spark plugs in the early 20th century, their potential continues to expand. From traditional mechanical components to new energy vehicles and semiconductor equipment, the future of advanced ceramics remains open-ended.
Superconducting Materials
Superconducting materials exhibit zero electrical resistance below a certain critical temperature. Their three defining properties—zero resistance, perfect diamagnetism, and the tunneling effect—have attracted global attention. Their most well-known application is in power grids. Because resistance is eliminated, power transmission losses could be reduced by 10–20%, offering significant energy savings.
Aerogels
Aerogels are lightweight solid materials with a nano-porous network structure.
Often called “solid smoke,” they consist of up to 99.8% air. They feature extremely high porosity, large specific surface area, ultra-low density, and very low thermal conductivity.
In short, they are ultra-light, ultra-strong, and highly insulating. Aerogels are widely used in catalysis, thermal insulation, and other advanced applications, earning them a reputation as “magical materials.”
Liquid Metals
Liquid metals refer to metals or alloys with melting points near or below room temperature.
They remain fluid at ambient or slightly elevated temperatures. Common examples include mercury (Hg), gallium (Ga), rubidium (Rb), and cesium (Cs). Liquid metals possess outstanding electrical and thermal conductivity, the highest among known liquid materials. They combine metallic properties with fluid behavior, making them versatile multifunctional materials.
Metal–Organic Frameworks (MOFs)
In recent years, metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have emerged as a new class of crystalline porous material. They have attracted widespread attention worldwide. Unlike traditional porous materials such as zeolites and activated carbon, MOFs are formed by the self-assembly of metal ions or clusters with organic ligands via coordination bonds.
This unique structure gives MOFs high structural order and tunability, resulting in diverse properties and functions.
Lightweight Alloys
Titanium alloys offer high strength, good ductility, corrosion resistance, and non-magnetic properties. In addition to titanium alloys, lightweight alloys also include aluminum and magnesium alloys. Aluminum alloys have been widely used for decades in automobiles and ships. Magnesium alloys, the lightest structural metals in practical use, are considered one of the most important materials for vehicle lightweighting.
Polyether Ether Ketone (PEEK)
Polyether ether ketone (PEEK) is a linear, semi-crystalline, high-performance thermoplastic and a representative new material in the field of advanced engineering polymers. Its molecular backbone consists of ketone groups, ether linkages, and aromatic rings, forming a fully aromatic structure. PEEK offers excellent mechanical properties, thermal stability, and chemical resistance. Since its introduction, it has been regarded as an important new material for defense and aerospace applications.
Thin-Film Lithium Niobate (LiNbO₃)
Lithium niobate is a compound of lithium, niobium, and oxygen. It is a ferroelectric crystal with strong spontaneous polarization and the highest known Curie temperature among ferroelectrics. Lithium niobate exhibits strong electro-optic effects, tunable properties, chemical stability, and a wide optical transmission window.
If optical communication is the “highway” of AI computing power, thin-film lithium niobate modulators are the “ultra-fast charging stations.” They directly determine data transmission speed, efficiency, and stability. Beyond optical communications and AI computing, thin-film lithium niobate shows great potential in LiDAR, quantum communications, and ultrafast lasers.
Quantum Materials
If semiconductors are a “necessity,” quantum materials represent the future. They underpin quantum computing, quantum communication, and quantum sensing. Materials such as topological insulators and two-dimensional materials are considered highly promising. However, commercialization remains distant. Over the next decade, quantum materials are likely to remain primarily research-driven, with limited prototype applications.
4D Printing Materials
4D printing extends 3D printing by enabling structures to change shape over time. This transformation is controlled through material design and external stimuli. Currently, 4D printing technology is at a low-to-mid readiness level. Major breakthroughs are expected in flexible electronics and aerospace within the next 5–10 years. Common materials include shape-memory polymers, hydrogels, liquid crystal elastomers, and quantum metals.
Borophene
Graphene is a two-dimensional material composed of a single layer of boron atoms, exhibiting directional conductivity, high tensile strength, and metallic properties. Its unique structure makes it a promising candidate for applications in electronics and optics. For example, in electronics, graphene is used in field-effect transistors and sensors to improve device performance and reliability. In optics, it is used in photodetectors and optical modulators to enhance device sensitivity and response speed. In the energy sector, it is used in battery electrodes and supercapacitors to increase energy density and cycle life. In quantum computing, it is used in qubits and quantum circuits to improve the efficiency and stability of quantum computing.
Specialty Graphite
Specialty graphite is a high-purity, high-strength, high-density form of graphite.
It is an irreplaceable strategic resource in emerging industries. It is widely used in photovoltaics, semiconductors, new energy batteries, metallurgy, chemical processing, machinery, and electronics.
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— Đăng bởi Emily Chen
