Graphene, which has also been dubbed the “miracle material” of the 21st century for its many applications in the field of electronics, could have a competitor: grafin. A work published in the journal Physical Review Letters has examined the electronic properties of this material, which has yet to be synthesized in the laboratory, using computer simulations.
The study shows that, like graphene, grafin is capable of conducting electrons at high speed, but in only one direction. This property could be used to design transistors and other electronic components much faster than the current ones, says Andreas Görling, one of the authors of the work, from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (Germany).
Both materials consist of a flat sheet of bonded carbon atoms. In the case of graphene, these bonds are single or double, creating a hexagonal pattern that looks like a miniature chicken wire. This structure forms what is called the Dirac cone, which makes the electrons that circulate through graphene behave as if they were massless, so they can travel at high speed.
In the case of grafin, the bonds are double or triple, and the resulting structure is not always hexagonal, so there are many possible types of grafin. Görling’s team has computer simulated the electronic properties of different forms of grafin. In one of them, 6,6,12-grafin, Dirac cones have also been found, suggesting that the material can also conduct electrons at high speed, but in only one direction.
While some theoretical physicists are skeptical of the discovery, others applaud it, and Görling’s team insists that it is now necessary to synthesize 6,6,12-grafin in the laboratory to test its incredible properties in practice.
