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Scientists in Europe have developed an ultra-thin material only one atom thick, which they believe could be used to make super fast electronic components.
The new material could also pave the way for medical breakthroughs helping speed up the development of drugs.
Science journal Nature today released the findings of a team of researchers from the University of Manchester and the Max-Planck Institute in Germany.
The physicists have successfully created a membrane only one atom thick that is capable of existing in a free state.
Two years ago, scientists discovered a new class of material called two-dimensional atomic crystals, essentially a sheet of single atoms.
However, there was some doubt over whether the membrane could exist in a free state without the support of other materials.
Recently, a team led by Jannik Meyer from the Max-Planck Institute and Professor Andre Geim from the University of Manchester has used a combination of microfabrication techniques to make a free-hanging graphene, which is a gauze of carbon atoms resembling chicken wire.
The material is also surprisingly stable for such an ultra-thin substance.
Prof Geim said the graphene was gently crumpled out of a plane, not perfectly flat, which helped stabilise the otherwise microscopically thin material.
"This is a completely new type of technology - even nanotechnology is not the right word to describe these new membranes," said Prof Geim.
"We have made proof-of-concept devices and believe the technology transfer to other areas should be straightforward.
"However, the real challenge is to make such membranes cheap and readily available for large-scale applications."
The researchers believe the membranes could be used like sieves to filter light gases through an atomic mesh or to make miniature electro-mechanical switches.
They could also be used as non-obscuring support for electron microscopy to study molecules, allowing for the quick analysis of atomic structures of bio-active molecules in medical research.
- AAP
