Scientists created the world's first superconducting graphene by coating it with lithium atoms.
Graphene is a single-atom-thick carbon material that is extremely strong and can conduct electricity, University of Faculty of Science British Columbia. Superconductivity has already been observed in intercalated bulk graphite (three-dimensional crystals layered with alkali metal atoms), but the feat has never been achieved in single-layer graphene until now.
"Decorating monolayer graphene with a layer of lithium atoms enhances the graphene's electron-phonon coupling to the point where superconductivity can be induced," said Andrea Damascelli, director of UBC's Quantum Matter Institute.
Graphene has extreme properties, such as a strength 200 times greater than steel by weight, and could one day be used to make ultra-fast transistors, semiconductors, and sensors.
"This is an amazing material,'" says Bart Ludbrook, first author on the paper and a former PhD researcher in Damascelli's group at UBC. "Decorating monolayer graphene with a layer of lithium atoms enhances the graphene's electron-phonon coupling to the point where superconductivity can be stabilized."
The ability to induce superconductivity in single-layer graphene could have a number of cross-disciplinary impacts in the future. Graphene has been rising in popularity in recent years; in 2014 sales reached $9 million, with most applications in the "semiconductor, electronics, battery, energy, and composites industries."
The findings were published in a recent edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The findings were made in partnership with the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research through the joint Max-Planck-UBC Centre for Quantum Materials.
