Graphene is a very special material, only one atom thick. It has a rare combination of properties, including quantum and magnetic characteristics, that make it unique in many respects.
Now, researchers in the US and UK have discovered something peculiar about graphene's electrical behavior.
Microscopic wrinkles in the super-thin, super-strong material are enough to significantly change its electrical properties.
It's a phenomenon known as flexoelectricity, where electrical charge is created through the bending or deforming of a material. This is the quantum version of it in action, previously theorized in graphene but without much direct evidence.
As the study team explains in Advanced Materials, flexoelectricity promises a fundamentally different way of connecting physical and electrical properties – potentially controlling electricity in atomically thin materials like graphene, without the need for extra chemicals or materials.
