Manchester University Breaks the Graphene Antenna and Prints on Clothes

Researchers at the University of Manchester have found a way to use graphene to print out antennas on clothes. This method is cheaper and more flexible than traditional methods of making antennas from metal, and the conductivity can be increased by nearly 50 times. Graphene is a single layer carbon atom material whose overall thickness is only one atom in diameter.

Scientists proposed that the theoretical hypothesis of graphene has been around for decades, but it was not until 2003 that Andre Geim, a physicist at the University of Manchester in the UK, and the Russian physicist Konstantin Novoselov, Konstantin Novoselov first separated single-layer graphene by the "tape method", which finally confirmed that graphene can exist alone.

Because of this discovery, both Heim and Novoselov received the Nobel Prize in physics in 2010. Research on the use of graphene as a conductive material has also rapidly spread in the semiconductor and electronics industries since then.

So far, most studies on graphene have only stayed in laboratory theory, and there are very few real-life applications. However, the University of Manchester once again announced that it has found a way to print graphene on clothes, or that it can change everything today in the near future.

“Graphene is no longer just a scientific issue. Soon, we will see a lot of new applications based on this technology in our lives.” Novoshovsky said.

Graphene has the characteristics of light weight and structural rigidity, which makes it considered to be the best choice for replacing carbon fiber in the aerospace field; in addition, graphene also possesses conductivity and transparency, which also makes it a solar cell and display device. The manufacturer's consideration is that since the thickness of the graphene material is only the size of the atomic diameter, if it is used in the semiconductor field, it is expected that the famous "Moore's Law" will be further extended after nanotechnology.