Physicists in Iran have created a spintronic device that is based on “armchair” graphene ribbons rather than the more expensive indium tin oxide – a development that could revolutionize handheld electronics, flat-panel displays, touch panels, electronic ink and solar cells – and reduce the manufacturing costs of these items. Spintronic devices are smaller, more versatile, and faster versions of today’s electronics. The nanoribbons are carbon nanotubes that have been “unzipped”, resulting in ultrathin, flat ribbons of straight-edged sheets of graphene, which are then cut to create the nanoribbons, with edges either in the shape of an “armchair” or a zigzag. According to Alireza Saffarzadeh, an associate professor in the Department of Physics at Payame Noor University, “[B]y applying a gate voltage, the type of spin current can be switched from spin-up to spin-down or vice versa. For this reason, the system acts as a spin switch. And these properties are useful in spintronic applications, such as magnetic random access memory.” Their work has been described in the American Institute of Physics journal Applied Physics Letters.