Carbon conductor corrupted into insulator
MAR 23, 2009
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.023175
Nature : In most solids, electrons behave much like particles of matter: they have a mass, and they speed up and slow down in response to forces. But in graphene âmdash; the single-atom-thick sheet of carbon that constitutes the basic building block of graphite âmdash; electrons move as if they have no mass1, 2, and so behave more like photons. In other words, although electrons in graphene can change their momentum and energy, they cannot speed up or slow down. One would therefore intuitively think that electron flow (electrical current) in graphene could never be completely blocked. But reporting in Science, Elias and colleagues show that, when graphene reacts with a small amount of hydrogen, its electrons become stuck and the carbon sheet becomes an insulator.
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© 2009 American Institute of Physics
