Graphene—believed to be impermeable—actually allows protons through
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.028461
Nature : The University of Manchester’s Andre Geim, who shared the Nobel Prize for his groundbreaking work with graphene, and his team have discovered a new property of the material. The single-atom-thick, hexagonal grid of carbon was thought to be impermeable, but Geim and his team have discovered that the material allows protons through. They suggest that the material could be used as a filter to help extract energy from hydrogen in fuel cells without allowing the hydrogen fuel through. They also found that boron nitride forms a similar atom-thick, proton-permeable layer that could be used in the same way. To move past Geim’s proof-of-concept work, researchers will need to determine how to create large sheets of clean graphene and how to make the material durable.
