14 DAY TRIAL // Graphene is a carbon compound featuring some peculiar physical and chemical properties, which was discovered just five years ago. Since then, it has been investigated extensively, as experts hope to manufacture it for electronics production one day. Recently, a team of experts from Italy, the United States, and the United Kingdom has reported that, before a full sheet of graphene is formed, nanodomes appear. Finding out how these structures work could lead to advancements for the electronics industry, the team reports.
The thing about graphene is that it only features one layer of carbon atoms. It can be obtained anywhere in the world, by simply applying duct tape to the tip of a pencil, and then peeling it off. Naturally, this rough approach will not result in single-atom layers, but it will produce the material. Now that the experts have established the nanodomes to be the precursor step for the development of the full graphene layer, they will attempt to put this data to good use, so as to devise new methods of adding electrical components to future graphene substrates.
The nanodomes themselves are, apparently, built up of concentric carbon-atom rings, the team reports. Because the rings are attached to their substrate at the rim of the domes, but not in the middle, the structures bulge up, creating the peculiar shapes. In charge of the new experiments have been scientists Paolo Lacovig, Monica Pozzo, Dario Alfe, Paolo Vilmercati, and Alessandro Baraldi, who published their results in the October 12 issue of the respected scientific journal Physical Review Letters.
The size of the domes themselves can, apparently, be tuned to fit any demands, by simply adjusting the conditions under which the carbon atoms are set on their iridium substrates. The team reports that domes from a few nanometers to hundreds of nanometers across have been obtained through this method. The scientists say that, by combining this new knowledge with methods of adjusting the conductivity of graphene and related materials, electronics manufacturers could, in effect, replace electronics made of silicon and metal with tiny, efficient, carbon-based chips.