GRAPHENE The long and winding road

A conference organized by Nature Publishing Group titled 'Graphene: The Road to Applications' took place in Boston from 11 may to 13 May, 2011. The meeting gathered scientists and engineers from academia, government, and large and small companies to assess the state of graphene technology. Phaedon Avouris disclosed regarding the kinds of electronics in which graphene is or is not likely to be successful. Tomás Palacios, described how symmetrical ambipolar conduction unique to graphene can be used to realize novel functions, such as frequency multipliers and very low-noise mixers. Many other application possibilities were also discussed including graphene for photonic, plasmonic and optoelectronic devices, and graphene composites for use in thermal management, supercapacitors, fuel cells and batteries, as well as graphene and carbon nanotube-based materials for lightweight structural applications.