News From the Field

Germs add ripples to make 'groovy' graphene


July 11, 2016

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Graphene, a 2-D wonder-material composed of a single layer of carbon atoms linked in a hexagonal chicken-wire pattern, has attracted intense interest for its phenomenal ability to conduct electricity. Now, University of Illinois at Chicago researchers have used rod-shaped bacteria -- precisely aligned in an electric field, then vacuum-shrunk under a graphene sheet -- to introduce nanoscale ripples in the material, causing it to conduct electrons differently in perpendicular directions.Full Story

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University of Illinois at Chicago

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