A new material called molybdenite could succeed as the building block for computer chips one day, according to physicists at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). The material uses 100,000 times less energy in comparison to silicon, and is also easier to work with than graphene, reports PC Pro. Graphene is another material that showed promise as a possible replacement for silicon, though it is understood that graphene is not actually suitable for use in a CPU.

While molybdenite is abundant in nature, it has not been previously studied for use in electronics. In an online article published on Nature Nanotechnology, the researchers note that it is less voluminous than a three-dimensional material, such as silicon. The result is that electrons move about less freely on a much thinner substrate of molybdenite than silicon, which I assume can lead to even smaller processors. While it could be a decade before molybdenite starts showing up in electronics, it's good to know that alternatives to silicon are currently being explored.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at PC Pro
- check out this article at EurekAlert

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