Plumbene, graphene's latest cousin, realized on the 'nano water cube'

Nagoya University-led researchers have created 'plumbene,' a 2D-honeycomb sheet of lead atoms. Plumbene has the largest spin-orbit interaction of any Group 14 elemental 2D material, potentially making it a robust 2D topological insulator in which the Quantum Spin Hall Effect might occur even above room temperature. As a surprising by-product, the research group also observed a nanoscale palladium-lead Weaire-Phelan-like bubble structure in the palladium substrate -- like the 'WaterCube' of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.