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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
by 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 agoA 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 agoNo, 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 agoI thought graphene isn't a semiconductor? I mean it probably depends on topology, but by itself graphene conducts electricity very well.