3 ms·

Even Lead is superconductive at 7.2K.

• noobermin 11y ago
  Someone explain this to me like I'm an undergraduate in Physics, why is this significant then, just because it is Graphene?
  • tly 11y ago
    Metal just conducts while a semiconductor is like a switch that you can turn on and off. Since graphene is a semiconductor it is more useful for creating faster devices such as transistors.
    • tedsanders 11y ago
      A fair number of semiconductors superconduct too (such as SrTiO3). The notable thing about graphene superconductivity is graphene's electrons, not its ability to semiconduct. Because of graphene's crystal structure, electrons propelled by a voltage will travel at constant speed, rather than accelerating. In this sense, the electrons are 'massless' (photons are massless, so they always travel at the speed of light and cannot be accelerated).
      • noobermin 11y ago
        >electrons propelled by a voltage will travel at constant speed You mean like Ohm's law with a constant electric field?
        • tedsanders 11y ago
          No, not like that. When electrons travel in a regular conductor, they have a distribution of speeds. Ohm's law just describes their average behavior. Just in case I misunderstood your question, I will say a few more things: Ohm's law applies to both graphene and regular conductors. In graphene, electrons have only one speed, but they can still move in any direction. In a regular conductor, electrons have many speeds and move in any direction. In either case, with no electric field applied, the average velocity of electrons will be zero. But with an electric field applied, the average velocity of electrons will be non-zero. And in both cases, the average velocity is proportional to the applied electric field, meaning that the material can be described by concepts like resistance and electron mobility. The key difference is that graphene has electrons with one speed and a distribution of directions, whereas regular conductors have electrons with a distribution of speeds and a distribution of directions.
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    • ajuc 11y ago
      I thought graphene isn't a semiconductor? I mean it probably depends on topology, but by itself graphene conducts electricity very well.
  • rgoddard 11y ago
    The electrons in the graphene take on a special shape where they behave as if they had no mass. This means they can travel at a high speed and gives graphene its high electrical conductivity. That coupled with the superconductivity make the prospect of a tiny high speed computer possible. The other piece of importance was the manufacturing process used which will make it easier to manufacture and study graphene hopefully increasing the rate of understanding.
• jeffwass 11y ago
  Lead is a metal, graphene is a zero band-gap semiconductor. Very different electronic behaviour.