An artificial material with a structure that mirrors graphene has been created by an international team of physicists in a study spearheaded by the University of Arkansas.
"We've basically created the first artificial graphene-like structure with transition metal atoms in place of carbon atoms," Jak Chakhalian, a physics professor from UA who participated in the research, said in a press release.
Chakhalian is no stranger to graphene and similar materials - in 2014, he was selected by the Gordon and Bettey Moore Foundation to investigate quantum materials, a selection that came with a $1.8 million grant, some of which he chose to funnel into the current study.
Graphene was discovered in 2001 and is a sheet of graphite just one atom thick. Transistors made from this material are predicted to be much faster and more tolerant to heat than the silicon used in modern transistors and thus many are hoping that it will be the key to more efficient computers and a stepping stone to next-generation electronics with a higher level of flexibility.
"This discovery gives us the ability to create graphene-like structures for many other elements," said Srimanta Middey, a postdoctoral research associate at UoA who led the study.
The findings were published in the Feb. 1 issue of Physical Review Letters.
