Yuan Cao () is a Chinese physicist. His research is focused on the properties of
two-dimensional materials
In materials science, the term single-layer materials or 2D materials refers to crystalline solids consisting of a single layer of atoms. These materials are promising for some applications but remain the focus of research. Single-layer materials ...
.
He discovered that a stack of two sheets of
graphene
Graphene () is an allotrope of carbon consisting of a single layer of atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice nanostructure. , cooled to 1.7
kelvins, K, could act as a
superconductor or as an
insulator when exposed to an electric field.
In 2018, ''
Nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are ...
'' chose him as one of
10 people who mattered that year in science, calling him a "graphene wrangler".
Cao was born in
Chengdu
Chengdu (, ; simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), alternatively romanized as Chengtu, is a sub-provincial city which serves as the capital of the Chinese pro ...
in 1996, and he attended Shenzhen Yaohua Experimental School starting in 2007. In 2010 he got into the
Special Class for the Gifted Young The Special Class for the Gifted Young is a program aimed to select gifted young students to enter the universities in China. First established in 1978 at the University of Science and Technology of China, it was a major innovation in China's higher ...
at the
University of Science and Technology of China
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...
. In 2014 he started graduate school at
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
, and he obtained his doctorate in 2020. He did research in
Pablo Jarillo-Herrero's group studying
graphene
Graphene () is an allotrope of carbon consisting of a single layer of atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice nanostructure. .
After graduating, he has conducted postdoctoral research at MIT.
See also
*
Bilayer graphene
Bilayer graphene is a material consisting of two layers of graphene. One of the first reports of bilayer graphene was in the seminal 2004 '' Science (journal), Science'' paper by Geim and colleagues, in which they described devices "which containe ...
References
External links
Official website*
Citationsat
ResearchGate
1996 births
People from Chengdu
Physicists from Sichuan
Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni
University of Science and Technology of China alumni
Living people
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