The discovery of graphene, the thinnest, strongest material known, earned two Russian scientists the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics. Image: CC The Alieness Gisela Giardino/Flickr

Graphene is the thinnest, strongest material known to man that conducts electricity and heat better than any other substance. The discovery of graphene earned the $1.4 million 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics for two Russian physicists conducting research in England. Experiments are being conducted by scientists around the world to determine practical graphene applications that include replacing silicon in computer chips, ultra-definition screens and new materials as yet unknown.

Graphene discovered with Scotch tape

Graphene was discovered by new Nobel laureates Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov at Manchester University. The New York Times reports that while investigating the electrical properties of graphite, they tried peeling layers of it off with Scotch tape. They came up with a form of carbon a single atom thick. Graphene is so thin and strong, the Times said a sheet stretched over a coffee cup will support the weight of a truck bearing down on a pencil point. Graphene’s amazing ability to conduct electricity and heat could make silicon obsolete in computer chips, work as an ultra-sensitive pollution-monitoring material, revolutionize flat screen TVs and enable the exploration of new physics.

Graphene could change everyday life

Geim told CNN he envisioned that graphene applications could change everyday life much like plastic did. It is a two-dimensional material consisting of a hexagonal array of carbon atoms arranged like chicken wire. Graphene is “fundamentally different” from three dimensional graphite because it is flexible. According to Graphene Industries, which works closely with Geim, two-dimensional materials like graphene give scientists access to materials of any dimension, including zero-dimensional atoms and one-dimensional nanowires. Geim told CNN that it is impossible to describe the range of possible graphene applications.

Coming attractions in graphene technology

Laboratories are experimenting with graphene technology all over the world. PC World reports that scientists at University of California, Berkeley stretched graphene and noticed that it reacted as if it were exposed to a powerful magnetic field. This property of the material could have a major impact on how the smallest parts of electronic devices are built. Science reports that researchers in South Korea have figured out how to grow graphene in sheets big enough to make touch-screen displays twice as durable as the current technology.

Micro-thin graphene electronics (Photo: Ji Hye Hong)

Science frequently works hand-in-hand with industry to find bigger, better, faster ways of improving production processes and making products better. For any country, there’s a certain pride that goes along with making a breakthrough scientific discovery that changes the face of an industry.

Make it cheaper, please

Frequently, a key consideration in innovation is money.  Part of making something better is making it cheaper to produce without sacrificing quality. Considering the difficult economy as it currently stands, saving money wherever possible is good.  On a personal level, we can use a payday loan or cash advance to save us the bumps and bruises of late fees. In the world of industry, discoveries like graphene may be the ticket to major technological breakthroughs.

Staying ahead of Moore’s Law

Robert Boyd reports for McClatchy at http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20090708/sc_mcclatchy/3268145 that graphene is made from a sheet of carbon that’s one atom thick – but it’s stronger than diamond and conducts electricity “100 times faster than the silicon in computer chips.” Understandably, physicists, electronics engineers and chemists are salivating over the possibilities. The applications for increasing the power of personal computers would be tremendous.

The thinnest and the strongest

“It is the thinnest known material in the universe, and the strongest ever measured,” wrote University of Manchester physicist Andre Geim in Science. Not only that, but it doesn’t take much to do big jobs. According to graphene researcher Rod Ruoff of the University of Texas, “A few grams could cover a football field.” Just so you know, one gram equals 1/30 of an ounce.

That’s carbon, baby

Graphene is pure carbon, just like diamond. It looks like honeycomb under an electron microscope, an indication of its structural integrity. Yet you can bend it and fold it, so it’s easy to handle. Imagine a pencil. Did you know the lead (which is not actually lead) is actually made of stacks of graphite layers? The bonds that hold them together in your pencil are weak, however, so when you write, the layers flake off onto the paper as the dark marks. When the lead breaks or you sharpen the pencil, the lead only breaks because the layers of graphene aren’t stuck together.

How can graphene be used?

This is where the practical applications for industry come in. Graphene can be used to create screens that won’t break; small, light solar cells and other energy-storage devices; ultra-light parts for cell phones; and, ultimately, high-speed computer chips. Potential graphene applications include touch screens, solar cells, energy storage devices, cell phones and, eventually, high-speed computer chips. That last application is years away, and the silicon industry is backed by billions of dollars, so I don’t think silicon computer chips will be replaced quickly.

Research is on the move

Government scientists, various university labs, big companies like IBM and even start-ups are hard at work to discover ways that graphene can be used. Ruoff founded Graphene Energy, a renewable energy company that is very interested in storing the energy captured by solar cells and even the heat from automobile brakes. The Pentagon is spending $22 million in their research to figure out how quickly we can start using the substance in computer chips and transistors.

The “Scotch Tape technique”

Graphene as it would appear under an electron microscope

That used to be the only way scientists knew to make graphene. They’d mount graphite on sticky tape and separate a single layer by pulling the tape away. But now, graphene can be made on a base of nickel, copper or silicon. After combining, the base is scraped off. This is a much more efficient method than the tape method, according to scientists like Geim, who discovered graphene about five years ago. It may have also advanced graphene research by years in just a short period of time.

Here come the hybrids

“I’m confident there will be many commercial applications,” Ruoff said. “We will begin to see hybrid devices – mostly made from silicon, but with a critical part of the device being graphene – in niche applications.”

But here’s what I want to know

If it’s true that graphene can also be used for car parts – making my vehicle lighter – I’m all for it because I’ll get better gas mileage and won’t need a payday loan or cash advance to fill the tank so often.

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