After obtaining international recognition from the 1980s for his work on noble metal-on-semiconductors systems, prototype systems for the study of the formation of Schottky barriers, a very hot topic until the 2000s, Professor Guy Le Lay was the pioneer in the realization and study of the emerging properties of new artificial two-dimensional allotropes of group IV elements beyond graphene, from silicon to lead, called Xenes.

These are Silicene realized for the first time in Marseille in 2012 with Paola De Padova (Rome) and Patrick Vogt (Berlin), Germanene also synthesized in Marseille in 2014 with Maria Eugenia Dávila (Madrid), PentaSilicene whose structure was elucidated in 2016 with Jorge I. Cerdá* (Madrid), Plumbene obtained in Nagoya with Junji Yuhara in 2019, and most recently Kagome-silicene synthesized at the PIIM with Yasmine Sassa (Göteborg).

This work on Xenes, of exceptional importance, constitutes a new paradigm for two-dimensional materials and their potential applications in various fields from nano-electronics and spintronics to nano-biology and medicine.

The PIIM laboratory is particularly honored by this joint IOP/SFP award to Guy Le Lay.

*Sadly passed away suddenly, just recently.