The thinnest material in the world could be used to improve broadband speeds after scientists discovered it can emit optical communications faster than existing technologies.
According to sciene journal, Nature Communication, a team of scientists including Andre Geim and Kostya Novoselov who were awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize, discovered fusing graphene, a form of carbon that's just one atom thick, with two closely-spaced metallic wires and then shining light on the pair will generate electrical power. The metallic wires create 20 times more light than using Graphene alone.
"Many leading electronics companies consider graphene for the next generation of devices. This work certainly boosts graphene's chances even further," said Novoselov.
The scientists said using graphene combined with metal wires was potentially hundreds of times faster than the speeds offered by existing internet cables, as the metal wires remove the issue of very little light being absorbed by the grapheme.
"We expected that plasmonic nanostructures could improve the efficiency of graphene-based devices but it has come as a pleasant surprise that the improvements can be so dramatic," said Alexander Grigorenko, who was also part of the team, said according to Reuters.
"Graphene seems a natural companion for plasmonics."