Graphene, The World’s Thinnest Material

By John Farrier in Science & Tech on Jul 9, 2009 at 5:19 pm

Graphene is a new material made of carbon sheets only one atom thick:

“It is the thinnest known material in the universe, and the strongest ever measured,” Andre Geim , a physicist at the University of Manchester, England , wrote in the June 19 issue of the journal Science.

“A few grams could cover a football field,” said Rod Ruoff , a graphene researcher at the University of Texas, Austin , in an e-mail. A gram is about 1/30th of an ounce.

Like diamond, graphene is pure carbon. It forms a six-sided mesh of atoms that, through an electron microscope, looks like a honeycomb or piece of chicken wire. Despite its strength, it’s as flexible as plastic wrap and can be bent, folded or rolled up like a scroll.

It has applications including solar cells, computer chips, and whale tanks onboard stolen Klingon birds-of-prey.

Link via Geekologie

Tags: Andre Geim, carbon, graphene, transparent aluminum

Neat stuff from the NeatoShop:

Alex
Jul 9th, 2009 at 5:34 pm
Finally! Something thinner than my wallet
gurnorg
Jul 9th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
I wonder if it is air/water proof?
XuYu
Jul 9th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
“In their book and PBS television series The Ring of Truth, Philip and Phylis Morrison asked, “How close to atomic size can we perceive with our unaided senses?” Their imaginative response was to place a quarter teaspoon of olive oil on the surface of a pond. As it spread, the film of oil could easily be seen on the otherwise rippled water. At its limit, it covered an appreciable area, some 2,000 square feet. A simple calculation shows that its thickness — rather, thinness — is a mere five-millionth (0.0000002) of an inch. That is, the diameter of a single molecule of oil.”

But that was a liquid, so maybe they were cheating.

http://www.northcoastjournal.com/issues/2009/06/11/our-amazing-eyes/
JustinButNotTHATJustin
Jul 9th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
That structure is called a favose pattern. Now that you know the word you will be suprised how often you actually see it in your everyday life.
Greg Bowen
Jul 9th, 2009 at 7:46 pm
nasty paper cuts – oh crap there went my hand.
Josh
Jul 9th, 2009 at 8:50 pm
Make it into a rope and you can climb a invisible rope. In the process removing half your hand.

Imagine making a stiff version of this. You would have the ultimate knife.
PaulVI
Jul 9th, 2009 at 9:12 pm
The ultimate knife! As in: “Never needs sharpening! Cut tomatoes like the day you bought it!” (Billy, come back…)
anonymoussss
Jul 9th, 2009 at 9:23 pm
I love words like that! I also love carbon! It makes organic chemistry so much easier because it’s so much more logical than lots of other atoms. Yay.
legatoistheman
Jul 9th, 2009 at 9:58 pm
I am pretty sure Graphene is not new.
Helgar
Jul 10th, 2009 at 11:46 am
haha The plot of Star Trek IV was plausible, don’t make fun. =)
Scooter
Jul 10th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
I wonder if you took that football field size of Graphene and rolled it into a long tube if it could make a elevator to space with the resulting cord.
Sammy K
Jul 10th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
Interesting fact:
Graphene can be made with Scotch tape. Google it.
Engr Awwal H Wakili
Oct 25th, 2010 at 2:42 am
Graphene is indeed a breakthrough in the field of Engineering materials. Because of the mecnaical properties and the ability to be utilized in the space application.My concern is the cost of the material and the ability of the material to withstand corrosive enviroment as well as the availability of the material.

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