Artificial graphene created in lab

An international group of physicists has created an artificial material with a structure comparable to graphene.

Discovered in 2004, graphene is a one-atom-thick sheet of graphite.

Graphene transistors are predicted to be substantially faster and more heat tolerant than today's silicon transistors and may result in more efficient computers and the next-generation of flexible electronics.

"We've basically created the first artificial graphene-like structure with transition metal atoms in place of carbon atoms," said Jak Chakhalian, director of the Artificial Quantum Materials Laboratory at University of Arkansas.

"This discovery gives us the ability to create graphene-like structures for many other elements," added Srimanta Middey, post-doctoral research associate who led the study.

In 2014, Chakhalian was selected as a quantum materials investigator for the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

The research group also included postdoctoral research associates Michael Kareev and Yanwei Cao, doctoral student Xiaoran Liu and recent doctoral graduate Derek Meyers, now at Brookhaven National Laboratory.

The findings were published in Physical Review Letters, the journal of the American Physical Society.