On: Graphene Is Grown with the Same Band Gap as Silicon

[macawfish]

Another reason is that it's abundant, and it goes without saying that it's a carbon sink. It's also an extremely flexible material, mechanically and otherwise.

[mikeash → macawfish]

Isn’t silicon extremely abundant? It makes up about a quarter of the Earth’s crust.

[macawfish → mikeash]

My impression is that you can do stuff with carbon that you can't do with silicon unless you dope with rare minerals. I could be wrong. Can someone elaborate who knows more about this than I do?

[mikeash → macawfish]

Good point, I forgot about the doping.

[api → mikeash]

It is at least as abundant as carbon, but it's not found pure in nature and purifying it requires a lot more energy than carbon and is a lot dirtier.