Many technology enthusiasts feel that graphene hasn’t lived up to expectations. While I agree with this sentiment, objectively speaking, graphene hasn’t been a complete failure either. In fact, it’s being used in interesting applications where it has already made a difference.
I’ve personally experienced one such application. On several occasions, I’ve tried some loudspeakers from Magico, a brand that uses graphene in the diaphragm of its midrange and bass models to approximate their behavior to that of a piston. However, in this post, I’ll explore a different, more ambitious application of this material.
New Electronics Are on the Horizon, and They Are Made Possible by Graphene
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is developing the application in question. As one of the top universities globally, MIT doesn’t tend to discuss projects without merit or potential for success publicly. Therefore, it’s worth delving into the research and potential of this application.
“Graphene is a fascinating material. Every layer you add gives you essentially a new material,” one of the study's authors says.
The images above are actual representations of graphene. The one on the left was captured using a scanning probe microscope. Graphene is composed of a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal pattern. However, MIT researchers discovered that stacking graphene into five layers with a rhombohedral pattern gives it unique physicochemical properties.
Long Ju, an MIT physicist leading the research, explains this more clearly: “Graphene is a fascinating material. Every layer you add gives you essentially a new material. And now this is the first time we see ferro-valleytricity, and unconventional magnetism, in five layers of graphene. But we don’t see this property in one, two, three, or four layers.”
In fact, Ju and his colleagues have observed an unprecedented form of magnetism with great potential. According to them, the “five-layer graphene sandwich” could significantly improve magnetic storage systems that double the capacity of current storage systems while consuming much less energy. Moreover, researchers believe this technology could have a major impact on classical computers and quantum machines.
While Ju’s application is the most logical, it’s important to note that subjecting the material to temperatures some degrees above absolute zero (-477.67 degrees Fahrenheit) reveals additional properties that could broaden its potential applications. Furthermore, MIT researchers have found that they can manipulate the material’s properties using a magnetic field. Although further research is necessary before practical applications can be developed, the outlook is promising.
Image | U.S. Army Materiel Command / Oak Ridge National Laboratory
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