We’ve seen graphene promise some pretty slick tricks already: budget-minded bendable batteries, superior stain resistance, and upping ultracapacitors’ energy density. We can now add self-cooling transistors to the list of awesome, yet unfulfilled possibilities for these microscopic sheets of carbon. Using an atomic force microscope, a team of researchers at the University of Illinois led by Professor William King discovered that graphene transistors have a thermoelectric cooling effect where they make their metal connections. This self-cooling is greater than the resistive heating that normally follows the flow of electrons — meaning graphene-based electronics from the future could make their silicon competition look decidedly uncool in comparison.
Researchers find graphene transistors cool themselves, silicon counterparts seethe with envy originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 17:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
