Engineers have discovered a new semiconductor material that has the potential to significantly increase the battery life of smartphones, computers and other gadgets while increasing processing speeds by a factor of 100.

The material, tin monoxide (SnO), is significant because it is 2D, at just an atom thick, allowing electrical charges to move across it at far greater speeds than in silicon and other 3D materials found in the tech of today.

It also represents a key improvement over graphene and other atom-thick materials, as it can conduct both positive charges and negative electrons, making it a P-type material. Others, including graphene, only allow negative electrons, known as N-type, to cross, limiting their use in electronic devices.

According to the University of Utah, where the discovery was made, this is “the first stable P-type 2D semiconductor material ever in existence”.

The engineers, led by Ashutosh Tiwari, associate professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Utah, believe the material could significantly improve the technology around us.

“Now we have everything – we have P-type 2D semiconductors and N-type 2D semiconductors,” he said. “Now things will move forward much more quickly.”

The material could enable future smartphones that run considerably faster, but have far longer battery life, while also not heating up with use.

This could also be a benefit to medical devices, which often require frequent charging.

“The field is very hot right now, and people are very interested in it,” said Tiwari. “So in two or three years we should see at least some prototype device.”

The research, which was published today in the journal Advanced Electronic Materials, is likely to attract considerable interest from the electronics industry, with hardware advances sought as keenly as ever.

The combination of lower power consumption, lower heat and faster processing that the material offers is somewhat of a holy grail, and if the material proves as effective as its discovers say, it looks set to be embraced.

However, the material could also attract criticism. Tin is already common in electronics but has attracted criticism due to the injuries sustained in its extraction.

A third of the world’s tin comes from two Indonesian islands, where an ever-deepening pit has claimed the lives of hundreds of miners.

Tin would likely be used in greater quantities if this semiconductor material became commonplace, and the spotlight could again be cast on this issue.