Atomic crystals go 2D (Jul 22)
http://physicsweb.org/article/news/9/7/13

A standard technique for producing two-dimensional crystals just one
atomic layer thick has been developed by physicists in the UK and
Russia. The crystals, which are essentially gigantic 2D molecules, were
created by Andre Geim and co-workers at Manchester University and the
Institute for Microelectronics Technology in Chernogolovka. The
structures were made by simply rubbing the freshly cleaved surface of a
layered crystal onto another surface, like drawing chalk on a
blackboard. This micromechanical "peeling" created flakes, some of which
were -- unexpectedly -- just one layer thick. The crystals are stable
and could be used to make transistors and sensors (Proc. Natl. Acad.
Sci. 2005 102 10451).