Graphene

Stanford University engineers have developed an ultra-thin heat shield for electronic devices that measures just 10 atoms thick.

Scientists are getting good results at repelling mosquitoes using graphene.

Since electronics are always shrinking, engineers need to find ways to make smaller components too. Now, scientists from the University of Leeds have managed to make the thinnest gold ever created, measuring just two atoms thick. That makes it functionally two-dimensional, joining graphene.

A team from Stanford has shown that graphene arranged in a specific way can generate a magnetic field. That’s surprising enough, but it turns out this particular form of magnetism has previously only been theorized.

​Fans of the Mission Impossible movies may recall the agents' use of a slim, throat-mounted device that changes the user's voice. Well, Chinese scientists have now developed something similar, that could one day allow the mute to speak … in a manner of speaking.

Graphene is incredibly thin, flexible, strong and electrically conductive, but it’s tricky to manufacture on large scales. Now researchers at the University of Rochester have recruited bacteria to make the stuff, which is cheaper and faster than current methods and doesn’t require harsh chemicals.

It's not enough to just reduce our carbon dioxide emissions now – we need to remove some of what’s already in the atmosphere. Now, researchers at KIT have developed a simple way to turn the troublesome gas into a useful resource: by converting it into the “wonder” material graphene.

​The wonderful potential of graphene has been well covered on our pages. One thing missing has been a cost-effective way to produce the wonder material, but a team of researchers now believe they may have discovered a key to this hiding in the bark of Australian eucalyptus trees.

​​There has been a lot said and written about the possibilities of graphene sheets, but material scientists at Northwestern University are casting their minds toward a malleable form of the material that can be kneaded and molded like Play-Doh.

Water filters get less effective as bacteria builds up on their surface. Now, researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have developed a new type of membrane that reduces such biofouling by actively killing bacteria with graphene – and in an interesting twist, it’s built by bacteria.

Practical quantum computers may be another step closer to reality, thanks again to graphene. The bits of information in quantum computers (qubits) can exist in two states at once, and now researchers have managed to record just how long that superposition state can last in a qubit made of graphene.

​There are a variety of situations that may call for the implantation of electrodes in the brain, ranging from the treatment of neurological conditions to restoring the function of paralyzed limbs. A newly-developed hydrogel could someday replace such electrodes, allowing for better functionality.