Manchester scientists make graphene

Scientists at the University of Manchester have produced a new material just one atom thick, which could have remarkable uses in electronics.

Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov described the material, known as graphene, in a paper published in the journal Science on 22 October.

A sheet of carbon

Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb pattern. Graphite, the material used in pencils, is made up of many such layers stacked on top of each other.

Scientists have discussed graphene in theory for decades, but many believed that a material so thin would be unstable and could not exist on its own.

Sticky tape

The Manchester team found a strikingly simple way of making it. They used ordinary sticky tape to peel thin flakes from a block of graphite, repeating the process until some flakes were only a single layer thick.

They then transferred the flakes onto a silicon wafer and studied their properties.

Remarkable properties

The researchers found that graphene conducts electricity extremely well, with electrons moving through it at very high speeds. They were also able to make a simple transistor from it.

Scientists believe graphene could be one of the strongest materials ever found, as well as being flexible and almost transparent.

Possible uses

The discovery has excited researchers, who say graphene could one day be used in faster computer chips, flexible touch screens, better batteries and new sensors. It could also be combined with plastics and other materials to make them stronger or able to conduct electricity.

But the researchers say much more work is needed before any such uses become reality, and that making graphene in large quantities will be a major challenge.

A playful approach

Geim, who was born in Russia and has worked in the Netherlands, is known for an unusual approach to science. His group holds regular "Friday night experiments", in which they try out ideas outside their main research. In 2000 he won the Ig Nobel Prize, a humorous award, for using magnets to make a frog levitate.

Novoselov, also born in Russia, was his doctoral student.

The paper has already attracted interest from physicists around the world, who are beginning to repeat the experiment.