THE ELEMENT
Just as bronze, iron, and steel have driven new technological advances over the course of history, shaping societal developments and ultimately determining geopolitical superpowers we recognise today, a new materialgraphene- has the potential to alter our future today. Considered a ‘wonder material’ by scientists currently grappling over how to better understand it, graphene’s seemingly infinite list of remarkable characteristics could have drastic implications for the future of engineering and technology.
thin it is, but graphene is also flexible, transparent, highly conductive, and impermeable to most gases and liquids. Despite graphite being used since the Neolithic era, until recently graphene was a myth since scientists doubted if we would ever be able to isolate graphite down to a single, atom-thin sheet. Funnily enough the tool ultimately changing the world in this case was merely sellotape. By peeling layer after layer of graphite from a large block, scientists Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov were eventually able to generate the thinnest possible sample: graphene. Since then, the list of potential uses has grown exponentially year after year.
Graphene is a single, thin layer of graphite, which is an allotrope of carbon. The carbon atoms in graphene are structured in a hexagonal arrangement resembling a honeycomb. Being one atom thick, graphene has already made history in being the first two-dimensional material ever discovered. Moreover, with a tensile strength of 130 gigapascals, it is over 100 times stronger than steel and one of the strongest materials known thus far. Not only does graphene have an unbelievable strength considering how
Currently, our phones, laptops and other electronic devices rely on silicon as a key component. However, silicon transistors will soon be reaching the limit at which they can be effective, ultimately rendering these technologies slower and counterproductive. With graphene as their conductive element, it may be possible to manufacture ultra-thin and flexible touch screens that would be essentially unshatterable due to graphene’s strength. Smartphones would be as thin as a piece of paper, flexible, and light since touch screens can be printed on thin plastic rather than glass. Furthermore, graphene can be tuned to behave as both an insulator and a superconductor. This allows for both the investigation of unconventional superconductivity in science as well as opening many possibilities for new quantum devices.
Atom thick graphene: the new super material
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