Sunday, September 23, 2012

Graphene Reveals Its Magnetic Personality


Scientists from University of Manchester prooved that organic matter can act as a magnet. In the report they created Grapheme magnetic, thinnest and strongest material in the world. It is very thin carbon atoms set in a “chick wire structure”. When it is untouched it has no magnetic ability. Manchester researchers won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010 for showing its extraordinary properties. 

Dr Irina Grigorieva and Professor Sir Andre Geim, showed something very important for the future of graphene in electronics.
The Manchester researchers got graphene with no magnetic ability, then “peppered” it with atoms without magnetism or took out carbon atoms from the chicken wire. The vacancies (empty spaces), and additional atoms all became magnetic, just like atoms of iron.
"It is like minus multiplied by minus gives you plus," says Dr Irina Grigorieva.

The researchers found out that “defect” has to be far away from one another and their attentiveness has to be quite low to become a magnetic atom. If there are too many defects added to graphene, they cancel each other's magnetic power. In the case of vacancies, their high concentration makes graphene 

"The observed magnetism is tiny, and even the most magnetized graphene samples would not stick to your fridge." said Professor Geim. 

"Adding this new degree of functionality can prove important for potential applications of graphene in electronics," adds Dr Grigorieva.

  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120108143603.htm
ScienceDaily (Jan. 9, 2012) 

No comments:

Post a Comment