Graphene discovery wins major award

Two physicists from The University of Manchester who discovered the world’s thinnest material have scooped a major award for their work.

Prof Andre Geim and Dr Kostya Noveselov of the Centre of Mesoscience and Nanotechnology have been awarded the Europhysics Prize for discovering graphene — and also their subsequent work to reveal its electronic properties.

Graphene is a one-atom-thick gauze of carbon atoms resembling chicken wire. The material has rapidly become one of the hottest topics in materials science and solid-state physics.

Presented since 1975, the Europhysics Prize is an award for condensed matter physics.

Prof Geim and Dr Novoselov will share a cash prize of 10,000 euros.

Since the discovery of graphene in 2004, they have published numerous research papers which have demonstrated the new physics for the material and its potential in applications such as transistors just one atom thick and sensors that can detect just a single molecule of a toxic gas.

Prof Geim said: “We have been working very hard and putting in long hours for the last five years. Hundreds of other researchers have now joined us in studying graphene.

“But still we have not yet explored even a tip of the iceberg. Graphene continues to surprise us beyond our wildest imagination."