University of Manchester

Catching graphene butterflies



Combining graphene with other materials in multiple-layered structures could lead to novel applications not yet explored by science or industry.

Graphene is the world's thinnest, strongest and most conductive material, and promises a vast range of diverse applications; from smartphones and ultrafast broadband to drug delivery and computer chips. It was first demonstrated at The University of Manchester in 2004.

Initial trials of consumer products involving graphene-based touch screens and batteries for mobile phones and composite materials for sports goods are being carried out by major multinational companies.


Now the Manchester scientists have found a way to create multiple clones of Dirac fermions. Graphene is placed on top of boron nitride so that graphene's electrons can 'feel' individual boron and nitrogen atoms. Moving along this atomic 'washboard', electrons rearrange themselves once again producing multiple copies of the original Dirac fermions.



Professor Andre Geim, Nobel Laureate and co-author of the paper, said: "Of course, it is nice to catch the beautiful 'butterfly' which elusiveness tormented physicists for generations.

"More importantly, this work shows that we are now able to build up a principally new kind of materials by stacking individual atomic planes in a desired sequence."

Dr Gorbachev added: "We prepared a set of different atomically-thin materials similar to graphene then stacked them on top of each other, one atomic plane at a time. Such artificial crystals would have been science fiction a few years ago. Now they are reality in our lab. One day you might find these structures in your gadgets."

Professor Geim added: "This is an important step beyond 'simple graphene'. We now build foundations for a new research area that seems richer and even more important than graphene itself."