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Graphene

Updated: Dec 25, 2021



One of the most important areas of innovation in recent decades has been new materials. It has been one of the spin-offs of the space race. ​ In this article we will talk about graphene, one of the allotropic forms of carbon - others are graphite and diamond - associated with nanotechnologies. It was discovered by Dr Konstantin Novoselov and Dr Andre Geim in 2004, for which they both received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010.


Graphene consists of carbon atoms arranged in a single layer and has a hexagonal structure similar to that of a honeycomb. It can remain stable down to the thickness of a single atom, which makes it a two-dimensional material.


Its many characteristics are extraordinary: it is 200 times stronger than steel of the same thickness, and harder than diamond, with a thickness ranging from 1 to 10 carbon atoms. It is flexible and elastic, repels water, and has high electrical and thermal conductivity. It can therefore dissipate heat and be subjected to intense electrical currents without heating up. It is almost transparent and is so dense that even helium (He) cannot pass through it. The high mobility of its electrons raises the prospect of its future use in nanodevices. It may eventually replace such important materials as silicon.


Graphene consists of up to 10 layers. Its discoverers illustrated its characteristics as follows during their Nobel Prize acceptance speech: "This material is so strong that a hypothetical, almost invisible hammock with a surface area of one square metre made of graphene would be able to support the weight of a cat without breaking. The hammock would weigh less than a milligram, less than one of the cat's whiskers."


Graphene, a word suggested by Boehm and his collaborators in 1986, actually refers to each of the individual sheets of carbon that make up graphite. Interestingly, each layer of graphite, i.e., graphene, is much harder and tougher than graphite itself. Graphene can be extracted from graphite by exfoliation, and also obtained from other forms that carbon, one of the most abundant materials on Earth, takes. Unfortunately, however, it is still very expensive to obtain quality graphene. In other words, it is still a laboratory material that is not used for industrial applications because of the high cost of extraction.


The future applications of graphene are endless: batteries with longer lifetimes and shorter charging times; graphene solar panels that could generate several times more energy than current ones per equivalent unit of time. Or use for biosensors and the creation of prostheses, just to mention a few examples.

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