In the heat of a furnace, boron atoms happily dive into a bath of gold. And when things get cool, they resurface as coveted borophene. The discovery by scientists from Rice University, Argonne National Laboratory and Northwestern University is a step toward practical applications like wearable or transparent electronics, plasmonic sensors or energy storage for…
Ultrathin Graphene-based Film Offers New Concept for Solar Energy
Researchers at the University of Sydney, Swinburne University of Technology and the Australian National University have collaborated to develop a solar absorbing, ultrathin film with unique properties that has great potential for use in solar thermal energy harvesting. The 90-nanometer material is 1,000 times finer than a human hair and can be rapidly heated up…
Exotic ‘Second Sound’ Phenomenon Observed in Graphite
The next time you set a kettle to boil, consider this scenario: After turning the burner off, instead of staying hot and slowly warming the surrounding kitchen and stove, the kettle quickly cools to room temperature and its heat hurtles away in the form of a boiling-hot wave. We know heat doesn’t behave this way…
Superlattice Patterns Change Electronic Properties of Graphene
Combining an atomically thin graphene and a boron nitride layer at a slightly rotated angle changes their electrical properties. Physicists at the University of Basel have now shown for the first time the combination with a third layer can result in new material properties also in a three-layer sandwich of carbon and boron nitride. This…
Graphene and Cobalt Used to Create New Electromagnetic Devices
Researchers from IMDEA Nanociencia and other European centers have discovered that the combination of graphene with cobalt offers relevant properties in the field of magnetism. This breakthrough sets the stage for the development of new logic devices that can store large data amounts quickly and with reduced energy consumption. One of the latest technologies for…
Graphene-based Device Paves the Way for Ultrasensitive Biosensors
Researchers in the University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering have developed a unique new device using the wonder material graphene that provides the first step toward ultrasensitive biosensors to detect diseases at the molecular level with near perfect efficiency. Ultrasensitive biosensors for probing protein structures could greatly improve the depth of diagnosis for…
Smoothing Out Graphene’s Wrinkles
To protect graphene from performance-impairing wrinkles and contaminants that mar its surface during device fabrication, MIT researchers have turned to an everyday material: wax. Graphene is an atom-thin material that holds promise for making next-generation electronics. Researchers are exploring possibilities for using the exotic material in circuits for flexible electronics and quantum computers, and in…
Graphene Quantum Dots for Single Electron Transistors
Scientists from the Higher School of Economics, Manchester University, the Ulsan National Institute of Science & Technology and the Korea Institute of Science and Technology have developed a novel technology, which combines the fabrication procedures of planar and vertical heterostructures in order to assemble graphene-based single-electron transistors of excellent quality. This technology could considerably expand…
Researchers Produce First Scalable Graphene Yarns for Wearable Textiles
Hall Effect Turns Viscous in Graphene
Researchers at The University of Manchester have discovered that the Hall effect—a phenomenon well known for more than a century—is no longer as universal as it was thought to be. In the research paper published in Science, the group led by Prof Sir Andre Geim and Dr. Denis Bandurin, found that the Hall effect can…
Graphite Reveals a Quantum Surprise
Researchers at The University of Manchester have discovered unexpected phenomena in graphite thanks to their previous research on its two-dimensional (2D) relative—graphene. The team led by Dr. Artem Mishchenko, Professor Volodya Fal’ko and Professor Sir Andre Geim, discovered the quantum Hall effect (QHE) in bulk graphite—a layered crystal consisting of stacked graphene layers. This is…
Scientists Reach Breakthrough in Graphene-Based Electronics
A team of researchers from Denmark has solved one of the biggest challenges in making effective nanoelectronics based on graphene. The new results have been published in Nature Nanotechnology. For 15 years, scientists have tried to exploit the “miracle material” graphene to produce nanoscale electronics. On paper, graphene should be great for just that: it…
Flexible, Wearable Electronics Result from Solar-Powered Supercapacitors
A breakthrough in energy storage technology could bring a new generation of flexible electronic devices to life, including solar-powered prosthetics for amputees. In a paper published in the journal Advanced Science, a team of engineers from the University of Glasgow discuss how they have used layers of graphene and polyurethane to create a flexible supercapacitor…
Laser-Induced Graphene Gains New Powers
Laser-induced graphene (LIG), a flaky foam of the atom-thick carbon, has many interesting properties on its own but gains new powers as part of a composite. The labs of Rice University chemist James Tour and Christopher Arnusch, a professor at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel, introduced a batch of LIG composites in the…
Graphene Utilized for Improved Noise Control
Noise is a dangerous worldwide environmental pollutant: at normal levels found in cities it can induce annoyance, stress and fluctuations in sleep patterns which in turn increase the risk of type-2 diabetes, arterial hypertension, myocardial infarction, and stroke. A new high-tech low-cost soundproofing foam invented at the University of Adelaide could help keep our cities…
First Transport Measurements Reveal Germanene’s Curious Properties
Germanene is a 2D material that derives from germanium and is related to graphene. As it is not stable outside the vacuum chambers in which is it produced, no real measurements of its electronic properties have been made. Scientists led by Professor Justin Ye, Associate Professor of Device Physics at the University of Groningen, have…
Biological Effects of Graphene Go Under the Microscope
Graphene is considered one of the most interesting and versatile materials of our time. The application possibilities inspire both research and industry. But are products containing graphene also safe for humans and the environment? A comprehensive review, developed as part of the European graphene flagship project with the participation of Empa researchers, investigated this question.…
Artificial Neural Networks Streamline Materials Testing
Optimizing advanced composites for specific end uses can be costly and time-consuming, requiring manufacturers to test many samples to arrive at the best formulation. Investigators at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering have designed a machine learning system employing artificial neural networks (ANN) capable of extrapolating from data derived from just one sample, thereby quickly…
Nano-Infused Ceramic Self-Reports Health
A ceramic that becomes more electrically conductive under elastic strain and less conductive under plastic strain could lead to a new generation of sensors embedded into structures like buildings, bridges and aircraft able to monitor their own health. The electrical disparity fostered by the two types of strain was not obvious until Rice University’s Rouzbeh…
Graphene Biosensor Offers Early Lung Cancer Diagnosis
The wonder-material graphene could hold the key to unlocking the next generation of advanced, early stage lung cancer diagnosis. A team of scientists from the University of Exeter has developed a new technique that could create a highly sensitive graphene biosensor with the capability to detect molecules of the most common lung cancer biomarkers. The…
‘Magnetic Graphene’ Flips Between Insulator and Conductor
Graphene Crinkles Function as ‘Molecular Zippers’
A decade ago, scientists noticed something very strange happening when buckyballs—soccer ball shaped carbon molecules—were dumped onto a certain type of multilayer graphene, a flat carbon nanomaterial. Rather than rolling around randomly like marbles on a hardwood floor, the buckyballs spontaneously assembled into single-file chains that stretched across the graphene surface. Now, researchers from Brown…
Fluid-Inspired Material Quickly and Repeatedly Self-Heals
It’s hard to believe that a tiny crack could take down a gigantic metal structure. But sometimes bridges collapse, pipelines rupture and fuselages detach from airplanes due to hard-to-detect corrosion in tiny cracks, scratches and dents. A Northwestern University team has developed a new coating strategy for metal that self-heals within seconds when scratched, scraped…
R&D Special Focus: Graphene
Researchers Develop Waterproof Graphene Electronic Circuits
Water molecules distort the electrical resistance of graphene, but a team of European researchers has discovered that when this two-dimensional material is integrated with the metal of a circuit, contact resistance is not impaired by humidity. This finding will help to develop new sensors with a significant cost reduction. The many applications of graphene, an…