[SEMINARIO NOBEL 2010] Graphene - the wonder material
By: Eduardo Castro
From: Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid
At: Instituto de Investigação Interdisciplinar, Anfiteatro
[2010-12-02]
Graphene is a two dimensional membrane just one atom thick made only of carbon atoms. This new material has unique properties not found previously in other systems. On the electronic side the quasiparticles behave like massless relativistic fermions, while the underlying lattice structure is responsible for many superlatives: the thinest, the strongest, the stiffest, the most stretchable crystal. As a two dimensional membrane embedded in three dimensional space it also shares properties of soft condensed matter systems. Meeting all these characteristics in the same system leads to unique and very interesting features, some of them will be reviewed here.