Graphene (a sheet of carbon just one atom thick) can be successfully p-doped with boron, according to new experiments by researchers at Columbia University in the US. The result means that the carbon material can be both electron- and hole-doped, something that is important for advancing real-world graphene-based electronics. B dopants in graphene Chemical doping can be used to add or remove electrons from a material. Two years ago, a team led by Abhay Pasupathy showed that graphene could be n-doped using nitrogen atoms. Now, the same team has proved that the carbon material might also be doped with boron – which takes away electrons from graphene instead of adding them. Such complementary doping is a key feature behind all silicon transistor technology and the new result shows that these processes can be applied to graphene too. In n-doping, the extra nitrogen atoms do not significantly modify the basic structure of graphene sheets and the Columbia researchers have now found that the same goes for boron too. Silicon itself behaves similarly: a small amount of phosphorus is routinely used to dope the material but it does not fundamentally change its basic structure either. Half a hole into the graphene sheet In the

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