Vacancies surrounded by blue particles in the picture above.
Another graphene discovery shows graphene's magnetic potential. In an atom thick graphene sheet, there is a common defect of missing atoms, dubbed "Vacancies." Michal S. Fuhrer, of the University of Maryland, has discovered that the vacancies have a magnetic moment, a small magnetic field. The magnetism also creates an additional electrical resistance in the surrounding atoms at low temperatures, known as the Kondo Effect.
Fuhrer hypothesizes that many magnetic moments could be coupled via the Kondo effect, causing all of them to line up in the same direction. He continues, " The result would be a ferromagnet, like iron, but instead made only of carbon. Magnetism in graphene could lead to new types of nanoscale sensors of magnetic fields. And, when coupled with graphene's tremendous electrical properties, magnetism in graphene could also have interesting applications in the area of spintronics, which uses the magnetic moment of the electron, instead of its electric charge, to represent the information in a computer."
Spintronics may lead to future solid state devices. Motorola has already produced memory based on this principle called MRAM, Magnetoresistice random access memory. No charge pump is needed with MRAM. Which leads to faster operation, lower power consumption, and a long lifespan. (Via Wiki.)
Eavesdropper
pic via University of Maryland
