Atomic Balloon

Scientists have created the world's thinnest balloon, made of a single layer of carbon just one atom thick. Coming soon, the world's thinnest balloon animal!

The balloon is made of the same graphite in your pencil, made atom-thin with sheets of carbon stacked on top of each other. Known as graphene on that form, it is highly electrically conductive, and scientists are feverishly researching whether it could find use in advanced circuitry and other devices. Studying little graphene trampolines, by complete accident they made a graphene sheet over a hole and saw that it was trapping gas inside. By experimenting further with bubbles made of graphene, they found the membranes were impermeable to even the smallest gas molecules, including helium. Only an atom thick but an impenetrable barrier.

In terms of applications, one possibility is described as miniature aquariums for molecules. It would have instruments on one side of the membrane, in vacuum or air, and on the other side you would have DNA or proteins suspended in liquid, which could be viewed close enough to image the molecules within a few angstroms (or widths of an atom). Other potential applications include hyper-fine sensors and ultra-pure filters. To the researchers, having a membrane that won't let anything past leads to the study of what happens when they poke a hole in it. To detect what leaks through that hole with high sensitivity, or make sure only what you want leaks through that hole expands the atomic balloon possibilities ever further.