Graphene and, more generally, carbon nanotubes are exciting because they have something-for-everyone. Silicon, plastics, water are examples of molecules or structures that have also been spun into important applications for just about every vertical. I suspect we'll seem carbon nanotube products explode over the next 20 years just as plastics did over the last 40.<p>The article focuses a bit on whether graphene can replace silicon, which I think kind of misses the point. The material will enable exciting <i>new</i> applications rather than merely transforming existing ones.<p>I'm also kinda bummed that this kind of research doesn't have a higher profile in the US. This is high-ass-tech and is probably an area in which our oil companies could play a very large role with their competencies at running large, highly complex, raw material production systems.
Optical computers, genetic catalogs, nanorepair modules--forget all of that. It's when you see a megaton of steel suspended over your head by a thread the thickness of a human hair that you really find God in technology.<p>* Anonymous Metagenics Dockworker - MorganLink 3DVision Live Interview
If IBM can make a 150 GHz graphene transistor, why does Dr Phaedon Avouris, of IBM, say that it cannot replace silicon? Isn't clock frequency a measure of the transistor's ability to turn on <i>and off</i> quickly?
It's weird that this article mentions the problem of graphene lacking a semiconducting form and then fails to mention carbon nanotubes at all. I don't do research in this area, so I'm unaware, but it seems that much more work is currently being done with CNTs than graphene.
There is currently a 1 billion Euro proposal for a grant on graphene research in the EU. [1] But the decision will not be made before the end of 2012.<p><a href="http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110308/full/news.2011.143.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110308/full/news.2011.143.ht...</a><p>edit: Sorry, not to much new information here. They also mention it in the original submission.
I want clothing embedded with sheets of Graphene. Imagine the protection! I ride a motorcycle, which is one of the most dangerous daily activities one can do, and something that exhibits these properties could save me a lot of pain in wearing armored gear etc.<p>There are also a range of applications in the military and security industries.
Coincidentally, news out today of some impressive research results on using graphene in li-ion batteries:
<a href="http://www.greencarcongress.com/2011/05/chang-20110521.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.greencarcongress.com/2011/05/chang-20110521.html</a>