• Structural Kinks Create Smart Components

News & Views

Structural Kinks Create Smart Components

Mar 25 2021

Physicists at the University of Sussex have discovered that the tiniest microchips yet can be made from graphene and other 2D-materials. By creating kinks in the structure of graphene, the researchers made the nanomaterial behave like a transistor and have shown that when a strip of graphene is crinkled in this way, it can behave like a microchip, being around 100 times smaller than conventional microchips.

Prof Alan Dalton in the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at the University of Sussex, said: “We’re mechanically creating kinks in a layer of graphene. It’s a bit like nano-origami.

“Using these nanomaterials will make our computer chips smaller and faster. It is absolutely critical that this happens as computer manufacturers are now at the limit of what they can do with traditional semiconducting technology. Ultimately, this will make our computers and phones thousands of times faster in the future.

“This kind of technology – “straintronics” using nanomaterials as opposed to electronics – allows space for more chips inside any device. Everything we want to do with computers – to speed them up – can be done by crinkling graphene like this.”

Dr Manoj Tripathi, Research Fellow in Nano-structured Materials at the University of Sussex and lead author on the paper, said: “Instead of having to add foreign materials into a device, we’ve shown we can create structures from graphene and other 2D materials simply by adding deliberate kinks into the structure. By making this sort of corrugation we can create a smart electronic component, like a transistor, or a logic gate."

The development is a greener, more sustainable technology. Because no additional materials need to be added and because this process works at room temperature rather than high temperature, it uses less energy to create.

The research was published in the ACS Nano journal.

Further information online


Digital Edition

LMUK 49.7 Nov 2024

November 2024

News - Research & Events News   - News & Views Articles - They’re burning the labs... Spotlight Features - Incubators, Freezers & Cooling Equipment - Pumps, Valves & Liquid Hand...

View all digital editions

Events

MEDICA 2024

Nov 11 2024 Dusseldorf, Germany

FILTECH

Nov 12 2024 Cologne, Germany

Intech

Nov 12 2024 Tel Aviv, Israel

analytica China

Nov 18 2024 Shanghai, China

Pharma Asia

Nov 20 2024 Karachi, Pakistan

View all events