Work with graphene lands researchers Nobel in physics

It is the thinnest and strongest material known to mankind, no thicker than a single atom and 100 times tougher than steel. Could graphene be the next plastic? Maybe so, says one of two scientists who won a Nobel Prize yesterday for isolating and studying it.

Faster computers, lighter airplanes, transparent touch screens: the list of potential uses runs on. Some say we can't imagine what kinds of products might be possible with the substance, which hides in ordinary pencil lead and first was extracted using a piece of Scotch tape.

Two Russian-born researchers shared the physics Nobel for their groundbreaking experiments with graphene, which is a sheet of carbon atoms joined together in a pattern that resembles chicken wire.

Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov of the University of Manchester in England used Scotch tape to rip off flakes of graphene from a chunk of graphite, the stuff of pencil leads. That achievement, reported just six years ago, opened the door to studying what scientists say should be a versatile building block for electronics and strong materials.

"It has all the potential to change your life in the same way that plastics did," Geim, 51, a Dutch citizen, told The Associated Press. "It is really exciting."

Michael Strano, a chemist at MIT, said trying to predict its uses would be "folly . . . We can't even imagine the uses we're going to find."

Graphene's electrical properties mean it might make for faster transistors, key components of electronic circuits, and so lead to better computers, the Nobel committee says. As a single layer of carbon atoms it's tiny, which could pay off in more powerful cell phones, several scientists said.

As it's practically transparent, it could lead to see-through touch screens and maybe solar cells, the committee says. Its tremendous strength could produce new composite materials that are super-strong and lightweight, for building airplanes, cars and satellites, the committee says.

Graphene has not made its mark in ordinary consumer products yet, although some prototype electronic display screens have been created, Strano said.

"The field is still very new," he said, and the awarding of the $1.5 million prize to Geim and Novoselov is "absolutely marvelous."

Novoselov, 36, is the youngest Nobel winner since 1973.