According to recent research published in Nature Nanotechnology, engineers at the University of Michigan are working to create graphene contact lenses that will permit the wearer to not only see visible light but also ultra-violet light and the entire infrared spectrum.
Professors Gerard A. Mourou and Zhaohui Zhong have come up with the first room-temperature light detector that can be “stacked on a contact lens or integrated with a cell phone”.
Prior to the pair’s findings, one was required to merge multiple unwieldy technologies in order to discern near, mid and far infrared radiation at one time. The answer to this cumbersome quandary came to the pair of “profs” in the form of graphene. Graphene is essentially one layer of carbon atoms that catches the entire spectrum. It’s limited, however, in that it’s not big enough to catch over 2.3% of all light.
Zhong states: “The challenge for the current generation of graphene-based detectors is that their sensitivity is typically very poor. It’s a hundred to a thousand times lower than what a commercial device would require.”
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