Everyday pencil marks include minute quantities of graphene, one of the hottest new materials in science and engineering.
Image: Matt Collins
In Brief
- Graphene is a one-atom-thick sheet of carbon that stacks with other such sheets to form graphite—pencil “lead.” Physicists have only recently isolated the material.
- The pure, flawless crystal conducts electricity faster at room temperature than any other substance.
- Engineers envision a range of products made of graphene, such as ultrahigh-speed transistors. Physicists are finding the material enables them to test a theory of exotic phenomena previously thought to be observable only in black holes and high-energy particle accelerators.
Consider the humble pencil. It may come as a surprise to learn that the now common writing instrument at one time topped the list of must-have, high-tech gadgets. In fact, the simple pencil was once even banned from export as a strategic military asset. But what is probably more unexpected is the news that every time someone scribes a line with a pencil, the resulting mark includes bits of the hottest new material in physics and nanotechnology: graphene.
Graphene comes from graphite, the “lead” in a pencil: a kind of pure carbon formed from flat, stacked layers of atoms. The tiered structure of graphite was discerned centuries ago, and so it was natural for physicists and materials scientists to try splitting the mineral into its constituent sheets—if only to study a substance whose geometry might turn out to be so elegantly simple. Graphene is the name given to one such sheet. It is made up entirely of carbon atoms bound together in a network of repeating hexagons within a single plane just one atom thick.
This article was originally published with the title Carbon Wonderland.
Already a Digital subscriber? Sign-in Now
If your institution has site license access, enter here.
See what we're tweeting about
8 Comments
Add CommentI have a question. Dont know how apt it may be but: If you can somehow use a device to roll out a one atom thickness of graphene then would it not be possible to simplify the process of making a circuit board by simply "drawing" the circuit as you would with a pencil. Then run the current through it?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI used to design circuit boards for a living. The biggest problem that I could see trying to implement this technique would be to keep the connection constant, micro-fractures would be difficulat to keep out. Also carbon is not ver conductive compared to copper.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe carbon molecules would not be bonded together as in a solid metal but basically held together by the pressure when the material was applied to the paper or whatever you are drawing on.
how do I find the diy graphene slide show mentioned in the paper article?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisthnak you
Paul Woodhouse
I am a subscriber and I echo the question as to how one views the slide show on making graphene. I see the question, but not an answer.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI am working within the (automotive) wiper industry, and from that viewpoint the following idea/question came up to me.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOn a conventional wiper rubber, a layer of graphite powder is applied (for reducing friction with glass). During wiping, the graphite (having bad adhesion with rubber) is being deposited onto the car windshield.
The tip of the wiper lip has a very high contact pressure with the windscreen in order to achieve a sealing function. Maybe this pressure is high enough to peel the graphite during wiping, resulting in a graphene layer on the windscreen? Would that be a possibility?
i think the idea about the wiper blade is a good analysis but seeing as how graphene is apparently the strongest material found so far, i doubt rocks would chip the windshield if there were a layer of graphene on there. another thing to consider is that while a single layer of graphene is internally strong. the bond between the layers is actually quite weak. this is why you are able to write with a pencil, the layers seperate easily, leaving a trail behind.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYes, graphene is an excellent new star material.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://www.sinocarbon-cas.com/PinDao_104812_cn.html
Just to keep things as simple as possible, isn't it likely that the high speed of electrons flowing through pure carbon most likely the product of carbon's very low atomic weight and therefor the low electrical charge of its nucleus?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCharge carrying electrons flowing between atoms must break their charge bond with the nucleus of the atom they are 'leaving' to bond with the next atom's nucleus. It seems natural that the charge bond being broken would detract from the electron's momentum much less if there were fewer protons and thus a lower charge applied to the passing electron.
I admit that I may not explain in the most appropriately applicable context, but I suspect this is essentially the fundamental effects producing the observed speed of charge traversal.
This would infer a relationship between the atomic weight of all atoms and their speed of charge transfer. If this relationship is somehow unknown in it should be very easily testable...