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Graphite has long been a workhorse of industry – used in pencils since the 1500s, in steelmaking during the 1800s, and today in battery electrodes.
Research from Peking University now suggests it could even play a role in next-generation quantum computers.
According to a paper published on July 23 by the peer-reviewed journal Science, the research team has cleared a major obstacle on the road to practical quantum computers and come up with a realistic platform for the production of graphene-based quantum chips.
The team, led by Liu Kaihui, was able to fabricate a long-sought-after form of graphene – the building block of graphite – known as rhombohedral graphene, at a purity and size that had been unachievable until now, the paper said.
Rhombohedral graphene is prized for its ability to host exotic quantum states but until now has been too unstable to produce at scale.
Zhang Zhibin, a co-first author of the paper, said in an interview that previously the only way to obtain the material was through mechanical exfoliation.
