Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 026802 (2009)

The properties of graphene are tricky to understand from first principles because the material's carbon-sheet structure generates unusually strong forces between electrons. But Joaquín Drut of Ohio State University in Columbus and Timo Lähde of the University of Washington in Seattle believe they have made headway using the tools of lattice QCD, a theory from high-energy physics.

These tools allowed them to treat graphene's electrostatic interactions accurately, and, crucially, to predict that a graphene sheet should become insulating when it is not resting on another material. They hope experimentalists will soon demonstrate the insulating effect, which may have consequences for graphene-based electronics.