Prakhar Keshari
UN1015 R25 Spring 2014
Elsa Roberts
February 27, 2014
The Times of India
Graphene: The "wonder material" to revolutionize the world of technology.
Prakhar Keshari , UN1015 R25 Spring 2014 | Tue February 17, 2014
Graphene has been given many names now, "wonder material", "material of the future", etcetera. Millions of pounds and dollars invested in the "miracle material" graphene have finally started to pay off as the scientists at the University of Manchester made a breakthrough in graphene research. Using wafer-scale graphene might help them make smaller, better and cheaper wireless devices that could be much more efficient than the devices we have already seen till the current date. Scientists believe that the integrated circuits made using the using the unique properties of the semiconductor is going to bring about a revolution in the world of information technology.
Russian physicists Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, who received the Nobel Prize for their work in 2010, discovered the material graphene at the university of Manchester in 2004.
Since then the material because of its numerous unique properties has shown promising results. Graphene is made out of a two-dimensional material made from a single layer of carbon atoms. It only measures one atom thick making it the thinnest material till date not only on the planet earth but also in the universe, and even though the material is so thin, it is 200 times stronger than steel making it very valuable to the mankind. Graphene is also very flexible and has shown great conducting properties. The mobility of electrons in graphene according to Mutschler (2008) is "approximately 200,000 square cm/Vs at room temperature, compared to about 1,400 square cm/Vs in silicon, and 77,000 square cm/Vs in indium antimonide, the highest mobility conventional semiconductor known."
With the demand of better...