Scaling down Ionic Transistors to the ultimate limit

Researchers led by Professor Xiang Zhang of the University of Hong Kong have developed an atomic-scale ion transistor based on electrically gated graphene channels of around 3 angstrom width which demonstrated highly selective ion transport. They also found that ions move a hundred times faster in such a tiny channel than they do in bulk water. This breakthrough leads to highly switchable ultrafast ion transport that can find important applications in electrochemical and biomedical applications.