Chemspy chemistry news and views

Trapping light in a carbon net - Graphene, an ordered monolayer of carbon, is the thinnest substance known, and yet has extraordinary mechanical strength. A new study shows that its two-dimensional network of atoms can even trap light. Reference: F. Keilmann et al, 'Gate-tuning of graphene plasmons revealed by infrared nano-imaging,' Nature (2012) doi:10.1038/nature11253