Living Magnetism
31.01.2012
Graphene, the thinnest and strongest material in the world, has recently been proven to be magnetic. A report published in Nature Physics in January 2012 promises to be influential in its technological applications and crucial in unraveling the theoretical implications of magnetism in organic, carbon-based materials.
Carbon mostly occurs in nature as graphite. Graphene is a one atom thick crystal lattice isolated from graphite – and the subject matter of the 2010 Nobel prize-winning research in physics. University of Manchester professor Sir Andre Geim, the other researcher awarded, now leads a research group which has managed to inflict magnetic behaviour in graphene.
The Department of Applied Physics in Aalto University is in co-operation in the research with the University of Manchester and the University of Helsinki.
– Back in 2003, when graphene was not even manufactured, magnetism in graphene was theoretically studied at the laboratory of physics at Aalto University, says Arkady Krasheninnikov, senior researcher at the The Department of Applied Physics in Aalto University. It was predicted then that by manipulating the honeycomb-shaped crystal structure of graphene it would be possible to give rise to localised magnetic phenomena.
In the Nature Physics article the research group explains how introducing point defects in the structure of graphene or adding fluorine atoms on its surface enables magnetism. Although the magnetism detected is very minuscule, Arkady Krasheninnikov believes that the results can help, through further research, to discover if it is possible to manufacture permanently magnetic carbon out of graphene.
It is still too early to replace the nonorganic iron and nickel refrigerator magnets with graphene, its possible applications both in electronics and the spintronics of computer hard drives beckon for further research. The magnetic abilities of graphene are still quite controversial, but professor Geim's group expects their results to spur both basic research and application development.
The report in Nature Physics:
http://www.nature.com/nphys/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nphys2183.html
An article on the University of Manchester website:
http://www.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/news/display/?id=7831
Text: Tapio Reinekoski
Affiliations:
Manchester Centre for Mesoscience and Nanotechnology, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
R. R. Nair,
M. Sepioni,
I-Ling Tsai,
T. Thomson,
A. K. Geim &
I. V. Grigorieva
Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, PO Box 43, FI-00014, Finland
O. Lehtinen,
J. Keinonen &
A. V. Krasheninnikov
Department of Applied Physics, Aalto University, PO Box 11100, FI-00076, Finland
A. V. Krasheninnikov