A team of researchers working in a lab were successful in making a single layer of tin atoms which they claim can be the world’s first material that could conduct electricity with 100% efficiency at room temperature.

The material called as stanene will be a strong rival of graphene and other two-dimensional materials like phosphorene, silicene or germanene. It’s because the material made of tin atoms is believed to be so conductive that it allows the flow of electricity without any heat loss, said researchers.

Shou-Cheng Zhang, a physicist at Stanford University and his colleagues at four universities in China, during a lab experiment created the mesh by vaporizing tin in a vacuum and allowing the atoms to collect on a supporting surface of bismuth telluride. While the resultant substance looks like stanene, it appears that the base material that it's lying on is interfering with the electron flow.

Yuanbo Zhang, a physicist at Fudan University in Shanghai, said, “I think the work is a significant breakthrough that once again expands the 2D-material universe. It'll be exciting to see how the material lives up to its expectations”.

The team said that the upper layer of the stanene looked same as it was predicted; therefore the team is going to again try using larger amounts of tin and a new substance.

An experienced graphene and germanene producer Guy Le Lay, a physicist at Aix-Marseille University, said in a statement that it is very much like going to the Moon, where the first step is the crucial step.