Researchers use water to open and tune Graphene's band gap

Researchers from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has developed a new method to open and tune the band gap of Graphene - using water. By exposing the Graphene film to humidity, the researchers created the band gap. A band gap is required to create transistors, so this can help pave the way for Graphene transistors.

The researchers found out that by changing the amount of water absorbed on one side of the Graphene film, they can tune the band gap to any value from 0 to 0.2 electron volts, and this is reversible under vacuum.