Korean researchers recently developed technology that can reduce electric current loss between metal and ‘graphene’ which is a revolutionary advanced material with many practical applications in electronics.

On February 16th, Prof. Park, Jin Hong at Sungkyunkwan University’s School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and his research team announced the new development which was made by changing the design of graphene.  Compared to existing technology, the new design can reduce contact resistance between metal and graphene by about 25%.

Electric current generally flows well through metal but does not in graphene.  As a result, the intensity of the current flowing through is weakened when the two materials contact each other due to the rise in resistance.  This leads to the poor performance of electronic devices that utilize graphene.

The research team succeeded in increasing the electronic density with the metal in contact by designing graphene with a longer edge.  The higher the density of electrons, the better the current flows.  In addition, they created an environment in which current can flow well by heating the materials that supply electrons under the graphene.

Prof. Park said, “Compared to existing graphene devices, we can secure an operating current that is about four times better. Since it maximizes the performance of next-generation electronic devices and optoelectronic devices, this new development is expected to have various applications, particularly in flexible instruments.

The results of this research were published in the international journal ‘Advanced Materials’ third monthly edition.