Multiple groups claim to create first atom-thick silicon sheets

(PhysOrg.com) -- Since its discovery in 2004, graphene -- sheets of carbon an atom thick -- has sparked a flurry of research into the nanomaterial's potential applications for blazing fast, tiny electronics. Now, several ...

Nanotechnology may lead to more energy-efficient electronics

Carbon nanotubes and graphene consist of just a couple of layers of carbon atoms, but they are lighter than aluminium, stronger than steel and can bend like spring-coils. Physicist Niklas Lindahl at the University of Gothenburg, ...

What lies beneath: Mapping hidden nanostructures

The ability to diagnose and predict the properties of materials is vital, particularly in the expanding field of nanotechnology. Electron and atom-probe microscopy can categorize atoms in thin sheets of material, and in small ...

Bilayer graphene works as an insulator

A research team led by physicists at the University of California, Riverside has identified a property of "bilayer graphene" (BLG) that the researchers say is analogous to finding the Higgs boson in particle physics.

Catching space weather in the act

Close to the globe, Earth's magnetic field wraps around the planet like a gigantic spherical web, curving in to touch Earth at the poles. But this isn't true as you get further from the planet. As you move to the high altitudes ...

Closing in on a carbon-based solar cell

To make large sheets of carbon available for light collection, Indiana University Bloomington chemists have devised an unusual solution -- attach what amounts to a 3-D bramble patch to each side of the carbon sheet. Using ...

page 4 from 4