London (PTI): Scientists have found a new way to modify graphene to make it act as an insulator, a major breakthrough which they claim could soon pave the way to build "organic" computer chips from carbon, rather than silicon.

Graphene, carbon arranged in atom-thick sheets, is already known to be an excellent conductor, but electronics requires the ability to insulate too, as well as electrical properties in between those two extremes.

Now, a team at Manchester University has shown that graphene, carbon arranged in atom-thick sheets, can be easily modified to act as an insulator by adding hydrogen atoms to its surface, the 'New Scientist' reported.

In fact, the new material, called graphane, is made by exposing a graphene sheet to ionised hydrogen gas for some two hours, the scientists have found.

"The semiconductor industry exploits the 'whole periodic table' to manufacture its components. But what if a single material is modified so that it covers the entire spectrum needed for electronics? Graphene could be that material," lead scientist Konstantin Novoselov said.

Using a single material could simplify construction and allow near-seamless interconnections between conductors and semiconductors, currently as much of a headache for the chip manufacturers as the need to shrink transistors, the scientists said.

Experts have welcomed the findings. Alex Savchenko of the University of Exeter said: "In electronics, all digital elements -- transistors -- switch signals on and off, so they should have a large difference between the open and closed -state resistances."

The findings are published in the latest edition of the 'Science' journal.