Graphene

Graphene is a property of carbon. Carbon is the chemical basis for all life on Earth. Harnessing graphene has led to major advances in electronics and biotechnology. The value of graphene is in its transparency, elasticity, density, flexibility, hardness, resistance, and electric and thermal conductivity. Graphene is a chemical element existing in different forms (allotropes) in the same physical two-dimensional state on the atomic scale. When tightly packed, graphene is a layer of carbon atoms bonding together in a honeycomb lattice. Graphene is the thinnest compound scientists have uncovered. It is one atom thick, one hundred to three hundred times stronger than steel, with massive tensile stiffness. It conducts heat and electricity more efficiently than other chemical elements. It conducts light and is a major factor in spintronics, i.e., affecting the spin of electrons, magnetic movements, and electronic charge in solid-state devices. Graphene generates chemical reactions with other substances, and scientists believe graphene has potential for advancing the technology revolution.

Background

Graphite, a mineral occurring naturally on Earth, is the most stable form of carbon. Southeastern Europeans were using graphite 3000 years BCE in decorative ceramic paints for pottery. People discovered wider uses for graphite, such as making lead pencils, leading scientists to speculate that there must be another undiscovered element to graphite. In 1859, Benjamin Brodie studied the structure of graphite. His work was followed up with scientific progress between 1918 and 1925 by other physicists. P.R. Wallace’s study of the theory of graphene in 1947 opened a field of inquiry that theoretical physicists and chemists continued pursuing for another half-century, setting aside the awareness that graphene was discovered in lab analyses on nickel and silicon carbide.

In 2004 at the University of Manchester, Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov isolated single-layer graphene from graphite using micromechanical cleavage (the “Scotch tape” method). It was a layer of carbon, an atom-thick sheet with structure and properties about which physicists had been theorizing. Geim has dedicated most of the rest of his professional career to studying graphene. He and his students uncovered graphene’s field effect, allowing scientists to control the conductivity of graphene. This is one of the defining characteristics of silicon that advanced the entire world of computer chips and computers. Graphene is the thinnest material known in the universe. In the 1970s, chemists figured out a way to place carbon monolayers onto other materials. One of the first US patents for graphene production was granted in 2006. Small amounts of Geim produced in his lab were not going to satisfy demand. New processes were discovered to produce graphene in large quantities. Geim and his associate were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010 for their groundbreaking experiments on graphene, not for discovering it.

Further study found ways graphene is used in electrical engineering, medicine, and chemistry.

Graphene Today

Research into graphene is making great strides in finding ways to increase the power density of batteries. Scientists have hopes for graphene to produce ultra-long-life batteries that have less weight, are quicker to charge, and are thinner and less expensive to produce than lithium batteries.

Professor James Tour, a synthetic organic chemist at Rice University, is among the leaders, researching graphene and looking into its possible commercial applications. His lab sold its patents for graphene-infused paint; its conductivity makes it easier to remove ice from helicopter blades; mixed with fluids, graphene increases oil drill efficiency; and graphene is used in materials to make airplane emergency slides and life rafts lighter and safer for passengers. Thus, it is expected to save millions of dollars in fuel costs for airlines.

Tour’s associates are experimenting with graphene to help people with spinal cord injuries. Graphene oxide bonds with radioactive elements; thus, the importance of early discoveries in bonding graphene to other substrates. Experiments are attempting to turn the mix into sludge to be scooped away for effective environmental cleanup following radioactive disasters. Improving the mobility of electronic information to flow over graphene surfaces from one point to another will mean increasing the speed of communication a hundredfold or more. In addition to physicists and chemists working on graphene, biologists are looking to use the graphene nanomaterial by working on bonding graphene with chemical groups that might improve therapies and have an effect on cancer, neuronal cells, and the immune system. Graphene is being studied for its relation to and interactions with boron nitride, molybdenum disulfide, tungsten, and silicene, all two-dimensional materials as small as atoms. If means of bonding with graphene are discovered, scientists might be able to create new properties.

In June 2016, the University of Exeter announced that its research engineers and physicists discovered a lightweight graphene-adapted material for conducting electricity that substantially improves the effectiveness of large, flat, flexible lighting. Brightness is increased 50 percent, and GraphExeter, as it is called, greatly extends shelf life before needing replacement. Researchers are looking into applications for health-light therapies as well. In 2016, MIT researchers described a concept for converting electricity into light using graphene plasmons, whose propagation can be hundreds of times slower than light in free space.

Engineers are studying uses for graphene in electronics to make smaller transistors, consume less energy, and scatter heat faster. Many scientists and engineers consider commercial and health applications of graphene to be still in a stage of immature or novice technology. There are experiments into bendable smartphones using graphene to create the screens. The primary drawbacks are the cost of high-priced equipment and a lack of knowledge of mass production. Corporate funding of university laboratories and the leeway given to them in other fields of research serve as the model for graphene research and applications.

Bibliography

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