Researchers at NIST have discovered a new way to manipulate graphene’s electronic properties using mechanical strain. By suspending a graphene membrane over shallow holes in a silicon dioxide substrate, they created “graphene drumheads” that could be strained using a conductive plate.
The strain caused the graphene to form a tent-like shape, creating pseudomagnetic fields that confined electrons and produced quantized energy levels similar to semiconductor quantum dots. This allowed them to tune the graphene’s electrical properties, turning it from a conductor to a semiconductor-like material.
The research team, which included collaborators from the University of Maryland and the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science, published their findings in the journal Science. This discovery could lead to new types of graphene-based electronic devices in the future.
Keywords: Graphene, Pseudomagnetic, Strain-induced, Quantum Dot, Semiconductor
