3/18/2014 5:03:00 AM by Stanford Advanced Materials
In 2004 two scientists, Konstantin Novoselov and Andre Geim, made a discovery that is expected to shape almost all aspects of future technologies – Graphene. Graphene has baffled all material science experts because it is actually the only existing 2-dimensional structure on earth. Simply put, unlike all other materials that have a length, width, and height, graphene only has a length and width. It is made up entirely of one layer of carbon atoms forming a honeycomb shape.
Don’t let all the scientific jargon make graphene appear as if it is an extraordinary material found exclusively in laboratories. It is a single layer of the same carbon atoms found in graphite, which is used to make pencil tips. What the scientists managed to do is slice the graphite until they were left with only a single layer of carbon atoms. Nonetheless, graphene has very impressively extraordinary properties; it is both the strongest and thinnest material on earth. Additionally, it is a fantastic conductor of electricity. Graphene is so strong that a single sheet stretched out over a table can be able to support the weight of a 10-ton truck with only a pencil between them.
History of graphene
The existence of graphene was conceptualized in 1859. The first time single graphite layers were seen was in 1947 by Eugene J. and Gordon Walter Semenoff through an electron microscope. Graphite is made up of 50 carbon layers. Various institutions and companies have already invested in the research of the material. It was believed that graphene could not exist as a stable free-form and no scientist had been able to strip the single carbon atom layer until 2004.
Potential uses of graphene
The main barrier to the adoption of graphene is the expense, mostly because of the difficult extraction process called exfoliation. In fact graphene was once among the most expensive materials in 2008 with a price tag of $100 million/cm2. Over time the price has dropped to $100/cm2 and it is expected to drop further because of the ever improving extraction process.
Some of the potential uses of graphene include:
- In military and personal defense to make superlight body armor and sports equipment.
- Flexible visual gadgets such as smartphones, TVs, and PCs.
- Improved batteries, fuel cells, and other energy storage gadgets.
- Improved efficiency of LED lighting, solar panels, and desalination tech.
- Improved ethanol distillation.
- Space travel vehicles.
- Manufacture of bionic devices.
- Graphene has great potential, and it will certainly revolutionize the world in the near future. Barely a decade after its discovery and it is expected to reach consumer markets because of the readily available raw material. Industrialists and scientists alike continue to explore the unlimited potential applications of graphene.