The graphene family has a new member: fluorographene, an atom-thick sheet of carbon in which a fluorine atom is attached to every carbon atom. The material is effectively a two-dimensional analogue of Teflon.

Rahul Nair and Andre Geim at the University of Manchester, UK, and their co-workers made the material by exposing a sheet of graphene to fluorine atoms. Unlike graphene, which has high electrical conductivity, fluorographene exhibits high resistance, making it a candidate insulating material for electronic applications.

With its outstanding thermal and chemical stability, and mechanical properties that exceed those of steel, fluorographene could be used in similar ways to Teflon.

Small doi:10.1002/smll.201001555 (2010)