2D graphite shows promise for electronics

. The material was discovered at the University of Manchester in 2004 by Professor Andre Geim and Dr Kostya Novoselov and descriptions appeared in the same issue of Nature in 2005 by Professor Geim’s group and also by the group headed by Professor Philip Kim at Columbia University in New York. Research into the material, which appears to be an excellent electrical conductor, better than silver, is now under way in both the laboratories of the original discoverers, and also in a number of others round the world. Prof Geim said: “Transparent conducting films are an essential part of many gadgets including common liquid crystal displays for computers, TVs and mobile phones. The underlying technology uses thin metal-oxide films based on indium. But indium is becoming an increasingly expensive commodity and, moreover, its supply is expected to be exhausted within just 10 years. Forget about oil – our civilisation will first run out of indium. Scientists have an urgent task on their hands to find new types of conductive transparent films.” The Manchester research team has now demonstrated highly transparent and highly conductive films that can be produced cheaply by ‘dissolving’ chunks of graphite into graphene and then spraying the suspension onto a glass surface. The research team has now demonstrated what it believes to be the first liquid crystal devices with graphene electrodes. Dr Novoselov believes that there are only a few small, incremental steps remain for this technology to reach a mass production stage. “Graphene-based LCD products could appear in shops as soon as in a few years”, he claimed.