What is graphene? Here’s what you need to know about a material that could be the next silicon
Graphene, an emerging material that could change the way electronic components are made and help computing performance continue to grow, is everywhere in the research world these days.See also:
This month alone, advancements suggested it could boost internet speeds, serve as a touch sensitive coating and extend the lives of computers. It is stronger than diamond and conducts electricity and heat better than any material ever discovered, and it will likely play an important role in many products and processes in the future.
What is graphene?
Graphene is made of a single layer of carbon atoms that are bonded together in a repeating pattern of hexagons. Graphene is one million times thinner than paper; so thin that it is actually considered two dimensional.
Carbon is an incredibly versatile element. Depending on how atoms are arranged, it can produce hard diamonds or soft graphite. Graphene’s flat honeycomb pattern grants it many unusual characteristics, including the status of strongest material in the world. Columbia University mechanical engineering professor James Hone once said it is “so strong it would take an elephant, balanced on a pencil, to break through a sheet of graphene the thickness of Saran Wrap,” according to the university.
These single layers of carbon atoms provide the foundation for other important materials. Graphite — or pencil lead– is formed when you stack graphene. Carbon nanotubes, which are another emerging material, are made of rolled graphene. These are used in bikes, tennis rackets and even living tissue engineering.
How was it discovered?
Chances are good that you have made graphene many times in your life. Draw a line with a pencil and small bits of graphene will flake off. But no one had both the tools and interest to reliably isolate free-standing graphene until the early 2000s.
Graphene was first studied theoretically in the 1940s. At the time, scientists thought it was physically impossible for a two dimensional material to exist, so they did not pursue isolating graphene. Decades later, interest picked up and researchers began dreaming up techniques to peel apart graphite. They tried wedging molecules between layers of graphene and scraping and rubbing graphite, but they never got to a single layer. Eventually, they were able to isolate graphene on top of other materials, but not on its own.
In 2002, University of Manchester researcher Andrew Geim became interested in graphene and challenged a PhD student to polish a hunk of graphite to as few layers as possible. The student was able to reach 1,000 layers, but could not hit Geim’s goal of 10 to 100 layers. Geim tried a different approach: tape. He applied it to graphite and peeled it away to create flakes of layered graphene. More tape peels created thinner and thinner layers, until he had a piece of graphene 10 layers thick....MUCH MORE (the good bits)
Tesla, Graphene, and the 1,000 Mile-range Electric Vehicle (TSLA)
Startup Finds Real World Uses For Graphene
The 2010 Nobel prizes: Physics--Graphene Researchers Geim and Novoselov Win
Andre Geim First in History to Win Both the Nobel and the IgNobel Prizes
Nobelprize.org interviews Physics Laureate Geim about his Ig Nobel
"10 Companies Reinventing Our Energy Infrastructure"
Graphene Roadmap
Bigger, Stretchier Graphene
Some Guy Named Sir Konstantin Sergeevich "Kostya" Novoselov, FRS, HonFRSC, FInstP Sets Out a
Here's Novoselov's Nobel Acceptance Lecture: "Graphene: Materials in the Flatland"
And Geim's: "Random Walk to Graphene"
Previously:
"Graphene Can Improve Desalination Efficiency by Several Orders of Magnitude, Can Do Pretty Much Anything"
The 2010 Nobel prizes: Physics--Graphene Researchers Geim and Novoselov Win
Unlike the Peace Prize, you have to actually do something to win this one.This really is a BFD.
Materials science, yeah baby...
