Faculty of Science and Technology

Scientists who work closely with Lancaster University physicists have won the Nobel Prize for Physics.

Professors Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov at Manchester University won the 2010 Nobel Prize in recognition of their groundbreaking experiments with graphene, a two-dimensional material which has the potential to change the world around us. The discoveries by Geim and Novoselov have created a fast growing field of materials science research and nanotechnology.

Lancaster University involvement in Graphene research is focused on developing theory of electronic properties of this new material and modelling graphene-based electronic devices. Initiated by Vladimir Falko, Edward McCann and Vadim Cheianov, it has resulted in a discovery, by the Lancaster-Manchester collaboration, of unique electronic properties of bilayer graphene, and it substantially contributed towards understanding electronic properties of monolayer graphene.

Graphene effort at Lancaster is receiving over £1m EPSRC-HEFCE funding, as part of a £5m Science and Innovation Award 'Maximising the Impact of Graphene Research on Innovation' shared with Manchester University and the joint Manchester-Lancaster Northwest Nanoscience Doctoral Training Centre (NOWNANO), and, in 2010, it has been boosted by ?400k of the European Commission funding in the targeted project 'ConceptGraphene'.

Fri 08 October 2010

Associated Links

• Graphene: Magic of Flat Carbon - watch a lecture delivered by Professor Andre Geim in June 2010 as part of the Faculty of Science and Technology's lecture series
• NOWNano Doctoral Training Centre - Manchester University's nanoscience doctoral training centre, in which Lancaster University is a partner
• Physics at Lancaster University
• The Nobel Prize in Physics 2010 - details of Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov's award on the Nobel Prize website