Graphene Outperforms Nickel in Microphones

Phys.org reported the development of a graphene-based microphone that is almost 32 times more sensitive than standard nickel-based microphones.
As quoted in the market news:

The researchers, based at the University of Belgrade, Serbia, created a vibrating membrane – the part of a condenser microphone which converts the sound to a current – from graphene, and were able to show up to 15 dB higher sensitivity compared to a commercial microphone, at frequencies up to 11 kHz.
The results are published today, 27th November 2015, in the journal 2D Materials. 

Marko Spasenovic, an author of the paper, commented:

We wanted to show that graphene, although a relatively new material, has potential for real world applications. Given its light weight, high mechanical strength and flexibility, graphene just begs to be used as an acoustic membrane material.
The microphone performed as well as we hoped it would. A thicker graphene membrane theoretically could be stretched further, enabling ultrasonic performance, but sadly we’re just not quite there yet experimentally.”
At this stage there are several obstacles to making cheap graphene, so our microphone should be considered more a proof of concept. The industry is working hard to improve graphene production – eventually this should mean we have better microphones at lower cost.

Click here to read the full Phys.org report.