Graphene 

Muhammad Awais Bodla A-1

Structure: 
Graphene is a two-dimensional carbon allotrope. It is composed of carbon atoms
positioned in a hexagonal design. It is the basic structural element of other allotropes,
including graphite, charcoal, carbon nanotubes and fullerenes. A single layer of carbon
atoms arranged in such a honeycomb structure forms a single graphene sheet. Several
sheets stacked one on top of the other are regarded as multi-layer graphene, up to the
point where the material becomes graphite, usually over about 30 layers.
Its carbon atoms are densely packed in a regular atomic-scale chicken wire
(hexagonal) pattern. Each atom has four bonds, one σ bond with each of its three
neighbors and one π-bond that is oriented out of plane.

Properties: 
Note that most of these features relate to perfect, pristine graphene sheets.
Defects in graphene can make graphene weaker and however with quite different
properties which make graphene more suitable for certain applications!
 

❖Physical: 
● Graphene is one of the world’s thinnest material—it is only one carbon atom thick
(around 0.34 nm)
● In proportion to its thickness, it is about 100 times stronger than the strongest
steel.
● its density is dramatically lower than any steel, with a surfacic mass of 0.763 mg
per square meter. (about 0.001% of the weight of 1 m2 of paper)
● Graphene is the strongest material tested, with an intrinsic tensile strength of 130
GPa and a Young's modulus of 1 TPa (1 square meter graphene hammock
would support a 4 kg cat but would weigh only as much as one of the cat's
whiskers)
● Since it is a single 2D sheet, it has the highest surface area of all materials.
When left to themselves, graphene sheets will stack and form graphite, which is
the most stable 3D form of carbon under normal conditions.
● Graphene sheets are flexible, and in fact graphene is the most stretchable
crystal—you can stretch it up to 20% of its initial size without breaking it.
● Finally, perfect graphene is also highly impermeable, and even helium atoms
cannot go through it.

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 ❖Electronic: 
 

● Graphene has extremely high electrical current density (a million times that of
copper) and intrinsic mobility (100 times that of silicon)
● Graphene has a lower resistivity than any other known material at room
temperature, including silver.
● There are also some methods to turn it into a superconductor (it can carry
electricity with 100% efficiency).
● While all this makes graphene the fastest and most efficient conductor, it cannot
be readily used to make transistors as it does not have a bandgap.

❖Chemical: 
 

● Graphene is the perfect thermal conductor - it features record thermal

conductivity— higher than that of carbon nanotubes, graphite and diamond (over
5,000 W/m/K).
● Graphene conducts heat in all directions - it is an isotropic conductor.
● it is an inert material and does not readily react with other atoms. Defects within a
sheet increase its chemical reactivity.
● Graphene can, however, “absorb” different atoms and molecules. This can lead
to changes in the electronic properties
● Graphene is the only form of carbon (or solid material) in which every atom is
available for chemical reaction from two sides (due to the 2D structure).
● Graphene can also be functionalized by various chemical groups, which can
result in different materials such as graphene oxide (functionalized with oxygen
and helium) or fluorinated graphene (functionalized with fluorine).

❖Optical: 
● Graphene is extremely thin, but it is still a visible material, as it absorbs about
2.3% of white light
● It is very much transparent to the human eye, which may have various uses; it
can be used to make transparent conductors, for example.

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Potential Applications: 
High-end graphene sheets are mostly only used in R&D activities or in extreme
applications such as sensors, but graphene flakes, produced in large volumes and at
lower prices, are adopted in many applications such as sports equipment, consumer
electronics, automotive and more.

Graphene is an extremely diverse material, and can be combined with other

elements (including gases and metals) to produce different materials with various
superior properties. Researchers all over the world continue to constantly investigate
and patent graphene to learn its various properties and possible applications, which
include:
● batteries
● transistors
● computer chips
● energy generation
● supercapacitors
● DNA sequencing
● water filters
● antennas
● touchscreens (for LCD or OLED displays)
● solar cells
● Spintronics-related products
Graphene is the world's strongest material, and so can be used to enhance the
strength of other materials. Dozens of researches have demonstrated that adding even
a trade amount of graphene to plastics, metals or other materials can make these
materials much stronger - or lighter. Such materials can be used in aerospace, building
materials, mobile devices, and many other applications.
Graphene is the world's most conductive material to heat. As graphene is also
strong and light, it means that it is a great material to make heat-spreading solutions,
such as heat sinks. (e.g make LED lighting more efficient and longer lasting)
Graphene has a lot of other promising applications: anti-corrosion coatings and
paints, efficient and precise sensors, faster and efficient electronics, flexible displays,
efficient solar panels, faster DNA sequencing, drug delivery, and more.
Graphene is such a great and basic building block that it seems that any industry
can benefit from this new material. Time will tell where graphene will indeed make an
impact - or whether other new materials will be more suitable.

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Graphene Production: 
Graphene is indeed very exciting, but producing high quality materials is still a challenge.
Dozens of companies around the world are producing different types and grades of graphene
materials - ranging from high quality single-layer graphene synthesized using a CVD-based
process to graphene flakes produced from graphite in large volumes.

❖CVD: 
​ CVD is to stick individual carbon atoms onto a metal catalyst/substrate, so that all the
carbons bond to each other to make graphene.
Now, with CVD, we can make insanely high-quality and purity graphene. But, CVD is very
limited in scale. CVD works best in batch-type processes, and unless the reaction works in air
(which with graphene, it does not) you cannot have a continuous "conveyor belt" CVD process.
CVD is great for small-scale graphene, but difficult to scale to any industrial applications;
maybe with specific high-end transistors or optoelectronic components, but more specialty stuff.

❖Starting from Graphene: 

 

Now, when you start from graphite... That's how graphene was first produced in 2003 (published
in 2004). They used scotch tape, and a guy sat there peeling scotch graphite with scotch tape
for hours and hours, and found that a very small percentage of the particles on the tape were
peeled into single layers (ie., graphene).
Since then, improved "top-down" methods have been developed, generally with two
routes. One is to put graphite into DMF/NMP or ionic liquids and then to either use sonic
vibrations or other methods to shake or spread the layers apart. More energy input = more
sheets separated, but also more damage to the sheets. Typical yields are under 1%, so to get 1
gram of graphene, you're usually looking at about 1 kg of graphite. Producing Single-layer
Graphene this way is very hard.
The other top-down approach is to oxidize graphite, commonly with a mix of acids and
oxidizing catalysts (Hummers' Method), to get graphite oxide. This can then be sonicated to
single layer sheets of graphene oxide, with up to 30% yields. However, it uses very harsh
chemicals, in huge reaction volumes (dozens of liters to get grams) and the product has tons of
oxygen defects, which drastically reduce the electrical and optical properties, and even
mechanical properties. You can then use reducing agents to remove many of these defects, in
ideal cases improving purity from about 50-70% initially up to 96%. However, doing this takes
time, and yield after reduction is not very high, and it still is not nearly as good for electronics as
CVD.

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Bibliography: 
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/6tzy80/graphene_can_do_just_about_a
nything_except_leave/

https://www.graphene-info.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphene#Properties