Electrical signal transmission across electrolyte junctions separated by atomically-thin graphene
5 affiliations
- 1State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials (iChEM), College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
- 2Institute for Functional Intelligent Materials, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
- 3Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
- 4Innovation Laboratory for Sciences and Technologies of Energy Materials of Fujian Province (IKKEM), Xiamen, China
- 5Pen-Tung Sah Institute of Micro-Nano Science and Technology, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
Abstract
Signal transmission across membranes is usually mediated by the permeation of molecular species. Here we show that atomically thin graphene crystals, although impermeable to any ions or molecules, can transmit interfacial electrical potentials across electrolyte junctions without significant disruption. In monolayer graphene, applying an electrical potential at one graphene-electrolyte interface induces a similar responsive potential at the opposite side, with the magnitude governed by ionic sizes. By increasing the number of graphene layers, the response decays and vanishes at ~ 5 layers. Theoretical analysis attributes these observations to graphene’s tunable charge-carrier concentration combined with its extreme thinness. This capability of transmitting activation stimuli without mass transport may find its applications in artificial synapses and other neuromorphic junctions.
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BibTeX
@article{wang2026electrical,
title = {{Electrical signal transmission across electrolyte junctions separated by atomically-thin graphene}},
author = {Canbin Wang and Mingyang Xia and Jiaqi Zhai and Jialong Lin and Maxim Trushin and Kostya S. Novoselov and Sheng Hu},
journal = {Nature Communications},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1038/s41467-026-78067-x},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-78067-x},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Electrical signal transmission across electrolyte junctions separated by atomically-thin graphene
AU - Canbin Wang
AU - Mingyang Xia
AU - Jiaqi Zhai
AU - Jialong Lin
AU - Maxim Trushin
AU - Kostya S. Novoselov
AU - Sheng Hu
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/25
JO - Nature Communications
DO - 10.1038/s41467-026-78067-x
UR - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-78067-x
AB - Signal transmission across membranes is usually mediated by the permeation of molecular species. Here we show that atomically thin graphene crystals, although impermeable to any ions or molecules, can transmit interfacial electrical potentials across electrolyte junctions without significant disruption. In monolayer graphene, applying an electrical potential at one graphene-electrolyte interface induces a similar responsive potential at the opposite side, with the magnitude governed by ionic sizes. By increasing the number of graphene layers, the response decays and vanishes at ~ 5 layers. Theoretical analysis attributes these observations to graphene’s tunable charge-carrier concentration combined with its extreme thinness. This capability of transmitting activation stimuli without mass transport may find its applications in artificial synapses and other neuromorphic junctions.
SN - 2041-1723
ER -