A Graphene Discoverer Speculates on the Future of Computing

Nobel laureate Konstantin Novoselov, considers exciting uses for graphene and other materials

January 23, 2015 | |

Graphene is highly conductive and transparent and is also the strongest material known to science.

SA Forum

Scientific American

In 2010 two physicists at Manchester University in the U.K. shared a for their work on a new wonder material: , a flat sheet of carbon just one atom thick. Konstantin Novoselov and Andre Geim, both Russian émigrés, discovered the material by applying plain old sticky tape to simple graphite.

Graphene is highly conductive and transparent and is also the strongest material known to science. One day it could . Novoselov tells us about the possibilities of this 2-D material and how it could transform the industry.

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What does graphene mean for the future of computing?

I’m also looking into other one-atom-thick 2-D materials that were obtained soon after graphene and at heterostructures based on those 2-D crystals. Potentially they can provide an alternative to silicon technologies, but here we’re talking about completely new architecture rather than just introducing a new material into the system. It’s hard to predict how it will develop because when you introduce one new material into a process, it’s already quite a complicated step, and if you want to change the whole architecture, it requires years of research. That’s why research should start now if we want to achieve something like that in 10 years’ time.

What do you think computers of the future could look like?

Do you think that in the future we will still think in terms of separate entities called computers?

What else can graphene be used for?

How long will it take before graphene really makes it into the industry and commercial use?

Can graphene lead to completely new technologies, something we can only dream of right now?

How will this and other latest breakthroughs in material science transform the industry?

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