Blue phosphorus: How a semiconductor becomes a metal

Blue phosphorus, an atomically thin synthetic semiconductor, becomes metallic as soon as it is converted into a double layer. This has been discovered by an interdisciplinary team led by Prof Thomas Heine from TU Dresden and Prof Gabriel Merino from the Mexican research institute Cinvestav Merida. The scientists are first to describe the possibility of constructing nanoscale, highly efficient transistors consisting of only one element.