Graphene, “one of the hottest new materials in the field of nanotechnology,” has just made your car’s windshield wipers obsolete. Researchers at Vanderbilt University have devised a way to re-jigger graphene so that it sticks to smooth surfaces like ship hulls and windshields. Given that graphene can effortlessly repel water, you’ve just created a simple method to make rainproof your windshield. Quite handy.

“Graphene, eh?” Yup, it’s a new material that’s created by the alignment of “rows of carbon atoms arranged in rings.” I don’t think I need to remind you that carbon is everywhere, so it’s not exactly expensive to create.

Just as exciting is that the material is “10 times” (!) stronger than steel, and it’s quite handy at conducting electricity at room temperature.

It sounds like a comic book super-material. “Graphene—the solution to all the world’s problems!”

Now watch the windshield wiper lobby try to have the substance banned.

Graphene is substantially faster than current semiconductors, which are made of a substance called III-V, which is comprised of gallium, phosphorous and other stuff. Not only is it faster, but graphene detects a larger spectrum of light, from the visible and the infrared. According to Technology Review, “That means that graphene photodetectors could work at extremely high frequencies, making them highly efficient at detecting light and transporting the resulting electrons to an external circuit.” Think flexible flat panel displays, thin solar panels, and the like.

Ultrafast photodetectors could find use in future optical communications networks with data rates beyond 40 gigabits per second; right now, optical networks have data rates of about 10 gigabits per second. The photodetectors could also be used in optical computers that compute with electrons but transfer data using light instead of sending it over heat-prone copper wires.

Thanks, Graphene-Info, your one-stop shop for all things Graphene! Bookmark it today!

Apparently this new ice is important to studying protein folding, so I guess this is a good discovery.

Via Graphene-Info.com.

Made from graphene, scientists in the UK have created the world’s smallest transistor. Size? Oh, say, about the size of an atom.

The transistor, which could totally change the way electronics are made, is just one atom thick and 10 atoms wide. Again, it’s made from graphene, which, apparently, is a significantly better conductor of electricity than silicon. “We believe we can increase this mobility of electron flow 10-fold.”

So yes, pretty small. The transistor is actually embedded somewhere in the device to the right. Obviously you can’t see it—it’s too small!