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The World’s Next Super Material

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Submitted By kellercuban
Words 864
Pages 4
Alejandro Rodriguez
Dr. Noel Magtoto
CHEM 1412
27 April 2014
The World’s Next Super Material
We are on the brink of a new era in material science and technological development, much like the world was in 1862 with the advent of polymers. No one can truly know what the lasting effect of a new product will have on the world, but graphene has the potential to propel us further into the 21st century with astounding technological might. Much like the introduction of plastic and rubber, graphene will play a role in how we live our lives. Shaping the way we work, eat, live, and play. However, in order to understand how this wonder material will change lives, we must understand what it is, define its potential uses, and overcome the significant hurdles in cheap and efficient production.
Graphene can best be described as a one atom thick layer of graphite. It was first discovered in 2004 by Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov at the University of Manchester. It is a 2-D crystalline allotrope of carbon, the world’s first 2-D material in fact. An allotrope is just a different arrangement of carbon, like diamond for example.
Due to its sp2-hexagonal arrangement, graphene exhibits special properties. Most forms of carbon exist in a sp3 arrangement, (like graphite in the image above). What this means is that graphene can exist in a 2D state. Due to this configuration electrons are free to move across the whole compound with relative ease. Endowing it with remarkably high electron mobility. This ability allows any current to easily make its way through the molecule; making it a prime supercapacitor, meaning it can charge really quickly and give off that energy just as fast. It also exhibits incredible tensile strength, making the strongest intrinsic material ever discovered. When in a pristine condition (meaning no defects), its strength was measured to be 42 Nm–1. Which is largely due to its 0.142 Nm-long carbon bonds.
Another extremely important property of graphene is again accredited to its arrangement. Due to it’s incredibly fine structure it exhibits an extremely low light absorbance rate (roughly 2.3%). Which makes it virtually clear.

Although graphene is poised to change the world, we have to climb a few hurdles first. Cheap and efficient production coupled with finding a thermodynamically stable sheet of graphene would be the biggest challenges to overcome. New research, by Mark Rümmeli and his colleagues at the Leibniz Institute in Dresden, Germany. Suggest that the largest thermodynamically sheet possible is about 12 atoms thick, because after that whatever solution the substrate is detached from, say FeCl2, would start to bond with it.
Production of graphene is the biggest challenge to overcome. Sadly although this might be the greatest discovery of the early 21st century, if it isn’t cheap and efficient to produce the free market will pay no attention to it. Although there have been many methods suggested to produce graphene, the cheapest and most effective solution proposed so far has been from a team of scientists led out of Trinity College Dublin in Ireland. Their proposed method is by using a kitchen blender! The team threw in graphite powder in along with dish soap and produced a couple sheets of graphene. Their goal is produce a kilo of it by the end of year.
All of graphene’s incredible properties and potential uses should make the average person salivate. What is now science fiction will soon become reality. Imagine space elevators, made from carbon nanotubes (shaped layers of graphene), that will allow any person to venture unto the last frontier. Or new self-sufficient cities that are powered by solar panels laced with graphene that allow for the superconductor to rapidly release the trapped energy the nearby city. Paper thin phones that can take on any shape desirable. “Smart Glass” that can instantly turn opaque when provide with a small current. The possibilities are endless.
Although there are many hurdles the scientific community still has to climb to make graphene a staple in our everyday lives, this incredible martial and its miraculous properties truly have the potential to change the world. Just like the electrical exhibtions of the late 19th century must have amazed and mystified, the future applications of graphene might be perceived as magic by the modern public. This magical material will change the world and as co-inventor Andre Geim put it “we are in the midst of a technology crisis,” the race to harness graphene’s power will continue into the foreseeable future.
Works Cited
"Graphene: World-leading Research and Development." Manchester Graphene (The University of Manchester). N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
"Graphene-like Iron Made in the Lab." Physicsworld.com Homepage. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
Khan April 22, Amina. "'Wonder Material': Scientists Create Graphene in Kitchen Blender." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 22 Apr. 2014. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
La Funete, Jesus D. "Properties Of Graphene." Graphene Properties. Graphenea, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
"Wafer-Scale Growth of Single-Crystal Monolayer Graphene on Reusable Hydrogen-Terminated Germanium." Science. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.

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