Scientists develop new method to mass-produce graphene

Washington, June 10 (ANI): Scientists have come up with a simple and inexpensive manufacturing method to mass-produce graphene - a form of carbon - for electronics applications.

Graphene consists of a layer of graphite 50,000 times thinner than a human hair with unique electronic properties.

It has the potential to replace silicon in high-speed computer processors and other devices, Victor Aristov and colleagues indicate.

Standing in the way, however, are today's cumbersome, expensive production methods, which result in poor-quality graphene and are not practical for industrial scale applications.

Aristov and colleagues report in ACS' Nano Letters that they have developed "a very simple procedure for making graphene on the cheap."

They describe growing high-quality graphene on the surface of commercially available silicon carbide wafers to produce material with excellent electronic properties.

It "represents a huge step toward technological application of this material as the synthesis is compatible with industrial mass production," their report notes. (ANI)