News
October 2004
Researchers of CMN have discovered the worlds first single-atom-thick fabric, which reveals the existence of a new class of materials and may lead to computers made from a single molecule. The research is to be published in Science on 22 October, this can be found here.
The CMN team lead by Professor Andre Geim has succeeded in extracting individual planes of carbon atoms from graphite crystals, which has resulted in the production of the thinnest possible fabric graphene.
The resulting atomic sheet is stable, highly flexible and strong and remarkably conductive.
By employing the standard microfabrication techniques used, for instance, in manufacturing of computer chips, the team has demonstrated an ambipolar field-effect transistor, which works under ambient conditions. They found that the nanofabric exhibits a remarkable quality such that electrons can travel without any scattering over submicron distances, which is important for making very-fast-switching transistors.
In terms of applications, the sort of quality demonstrated by graphene can only be compared with that demonstrated by some nanotubes. As carbon nanotubes are basically made from rolled-up narrow stripes of graphene, any of the thousands of applications currently considered for nanotubes renowned for their unique properties can also apply to graphene itself.
For press coverage, see
BBC Online http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3944651.stm
or do a Google search for graphene manchester geim
June 2003
Gecko Inspired Adhesive
Our work published in Nature Materials provides the proof of concept that a new artificial adhesive mimicking the amazing tackiness of gecko's feet is possible.
Microfabricated plastic hairs are rather similar to those natural hairs covering gecko's toes. The created "gecko tape" shows comparable macroscopic adhesion. For further details, please read the original paper and press coverage below.
Microfabricated plastic hairs are rather similar to those natural hairs covering gecko's toes. The created "gecko tape" shows comparable macroscopic adhesion. For further details, please read the original paper and press coverage below.
Press Coverage
BBC News
Nature
Scientific
American
Science News
Christian
Science Monitor
Nanotechweb
To read more articles please do a
Google
search