As reported by the foreign media outlets, the world-thinnest glass with a thickness equivalent to the diameter of two atoms appeared a few days ago. At present, such super-thin glass has been authenticated by Guinness World Records. It was reported that such super-thin glass was researched and discovered jointly by the scientists of USA Cornell University and Germany Ulm University.
In fact, this discovery was sort of a surprise. At that moment, the scientists were purifying graphene. In the course of deep analysis, they discovered a glass layer composed of silicon and oxygen, and suspected that such super-thin glass might be the product of the reaction between the copper foils used to produce the graphene and the air leaked into the copper foils.
This discovery was not only a breakthrough of the glass thickness, but also urged the scientists to review the core structure of glass. By means of the structure observed with electron microscope, the scientists prepared a picture showing the precise arrangement of internal atoms of glass. Surprisingly, William Houlder Zachariasen, a physical scientist had drawn a similar picture as early as 1932.
What can such glass be used for? The scientists said that such super-thin glass can be used as a transistor in the future, and it can ultimately improve the operating speed of computers and smart phones.