Concrete may have found it's killer app in graphene, writes MIT Technology Review's Alexia Tsotsis. Graphene, the single-atom-thick layer of carbon with an uncanny ability to stick to just about any surface, has been discovered at the intersection of two huge trends: graphene may well be the strongest material ever known; and the ability to attach molecules, DNA, or other things to a surface is a key step in the manufacture of a wide variety of electronic and biomedical devices. And this ability is all based on graphene's tendency to stick to just about anything, according to MIT. Now a team at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) led by Kostas Geim and Pablo Jarillo-Herrero has found that a very basic, regular version of graphene can stick to a variety of surfaces even after they have already been chemically etched and coated with hydrophobic molecules that keep water from sticking to them, including glass, aluminum foil, platinum foil, and plastic. Graphene has been described as a 2-dimensional honeycomb lattice of carbon atoms. It is already known for being an excellent conductor of electricity and a strong, tough molecule-sized sheets of carbon; so great, in fact, that it could be used as the next generation of "transparent electrodes" in displays, touchscreens, and solar cells. Unfortunately, however, it is extremely difficult to work with because graphene is very prone to sticking to any surface. And in a paper published today in the journal Science, the Geim group reveals how they've come up with a method to stop that from happening. The scientists start with a piece of ordinary graphene -- one of the very first pieces of the stuff they were able to get from Geim and his team, since in their previous experiment, they were able to "paint" a graphene sheet with a single layer of molybdenum atoms. Using a technique called "chemical vapor deposition," they deposit a second graphene layer on top of this first piece. Then they place the sample under ultra-high vacuum conditions, which prevents oxidation. Then they start sticking to it. They put it in a chamber containing hydrogen gas and a minute amount of ammonia gas. The hydrogen attacks one of the C-H bonds in the molybdenum and bends the graphene to a 90 degree angle, which makes it less likely to stick to the surface they're working with. They then expose the sample to oxygen to oxidize it, which makes it hydrophobic -- so it doesn't stick to water. And once they're done with that, they use plasma etching to etch away a rectangular region of the first layer. Then they turn the experiment around and stick a second piece of graphene to the etched surface, again, under ultra-high vacuum conditions. They then tested out the result on a series of surfaces, including glass, aluminum foil, platinum foil, and a surface coated with poly(methyl methacrylate). And they found that the graphene didn't stick to these surfaces as well as it did to the original sheet of graphene. As for why this is the case, Tsotsis speculates that since the first layer has to be etched away, it may well damage the "graphene glue," making it less sticky. In addition, the etching away of the graphene increases the strength of the surface. Still, this is an important step forward for graphene -- which may yet find its use as the "ultimate binder," as Tsotsis puts it. "The new method could allow electronics manufacturers to easily attach graphene to a variety of different surfaces, including metals and plastics," Tsotsis writes, "creating a platform to build electronic circuits that perform reliably at extreme temperatures, or even in underwater conditions." The group's research was funded by the Semiconductor Research Corporation, the Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center of the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.