Artificial graphene could revolutionize electronics

Researchers have created a new breed of ultra thin super-material, "artificial graphene", which should lead to faster, smaller and lighter electronic and optical devices of all kinds, including higher performance photovoltaic cells, lasers or LED lighting.

For the first time, scientists are able to produce and have analysed artificial graphene from traditional semiconductor materials.

The University of Luxembourg is heavily involved in cross-border, multidisciplinary research projects. In this case it partnered with the Institute for Electronics, Microelectronics, and Nanotechnology (IEMN) in Lille, France, the Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science and the Institute for Theoretical Physics of the University of Utrecht, Netherlands and the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems in Dresden, Germany.

University of Luxembourg researcher Dr. Efterpi Kalesaki, the first author of the article, said that these self-assembled semi-conducting nano-crystals with a honeycomb structure are emerging as a new class of systems with great potential.

Prof Ludger Wirtz, head of the Theoretical Solid-State Physics group at the University of Luxembourg, added that artificial graphene opens the door to a wide variety of materials with variable nano-geometry and 'tunable' properties.

The study has been published in the journal Physical Review X.