Technology and Engineering Atlas

How Things Are Built
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme
Material

Graphene

GRAF-een
Materials Engineering

Graphene is a single, atom-thick sheet of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal honeycomb lattice, the basic structural unit that stacked layers of graphite are built from. Isolated as a stable, freestanding material for the first time in 2004, it is the strongest material ever measured relative to its weight, an excellent conductor of heat and electricity, and the subject of intensive research toward flexible electronics, composites and energy storage, though large-scale, defect-free production remains a barrier to widespread industrial use.

Facts
Primary Use
Research and early-stage application in flexible and transparent electronics, composite reinforcement and energy storage electrodes; large-scale structural or electronic use remains mostly experimental as of the mid-2020s. 1
Origin Year
2004 1
Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov isolated graphene at the University of Manchester in 2004, work recognized by the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Connections

Associated With

Carbon Fiber, Materials

Both are advanced carbon-based materials prized for extreme strength-to-weight performance.

Carbon Nanotube, Materials

A carbon nanotube is a rolled sheet of graphene structure

Source Graphene (Wikipedia)
Nanotechnology, Fields

Graphene is a single atomic layer material studied and engineered at the nanoscale.

In Field

Sources
1. A History of Technology
Charles Singer, E. J. Holmyard, A. R. Hall and Trevor I. Williams, editors, Oxford University Press, 1954View the Source
Graphene (Wikipedia)
WikipediaWikipedia: Graphene, lead section, third paragraph
Quote, Wikipedia: Graphene, lead section, third paragraph
Graphene is known for its exceptionally high tensile strength, electrical conductivity, transparency, and being the thinnest two-dimensional material in the world.
View the Source

Take a Related Quiz

Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.

View At A Past Year

Choose a year to see this entry's facts and connections as the atlas records them at that moment: what it held then, what it held instead, and what it had not yet adopted. Choose Present for the current record.