Graphene 'could boost broadband speeds'

Graphene could be employed to boost broadband speeds in the future, a new research project has suggested.

A collaboration between the universities of Manchester and Cambridge has discovered a way of improving the sensitivity of the world's strongest material, making it useful for optical communications.

Writing in the journal Nature Communications, the researchers suggested that combining grapheme with metallic nanostructures increases its light-harvesting performance 20-fold.

Professor Andrea Ferrari, from the Cambridge Engineering Department, said: "These results show its great potential in the fields of photonics and optoelectronics, where the combination of its unique optical and electronic properties with plasmonic nanostructures, can be fully exploited."

Keith Glazier, deputy council leader at East Sussex County Council, told the Eastbourne Herald recently that broadband is an essential utility for both businesses and homes.

He made the claim after the region was allocated £10.6 million by the government to boost its high-speed internet infrastructure.