A team of researchers in the United Kingdom have devised a way to capture and convert more light into power than was previously possible, in an advance that could help boost broadband internet speed. The scientists, from the Universities of Manchester and Cambridge, used a method called plasmonic enhancement, which involves combining graphene with tiny metallic structures, to up the sensitivity. The light-harvesting performance of the graphene was increased by 20 times as a result. Kostya Novoselov, one of the lead researchers, said, “The technology of graphene production matures day-by-day, which has an immediate impact both on the type of exciting physics which we find in this material, and on the feasibility and the range of possible applications. Many leading electronics companies consider graphene for the next generation of devices. This work certainly boosts graphene’s chances even further.” The team’s findings were described in the journal Nature Communications.
