A talented 2D material gets a new gig

Date posted
Funding Agency
(Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation)

Ever since graphene's discovery in 2004, scientists have looked for ways to put this 2D material to work. Last year, scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory developed a multitasking graphene device that switches from a superconductor, which efficiently conducts electricity, to an insulator, which resists the flow of electric current, and back again to a superconductor. Now, the scientists have tapped into the graphene system's talent for juggling not just two properties, but three: superconducting, insulating, and a type of magnetism called ferromagnetism.