Graphene and Its Properties

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Graphene and its Properties

Carbon is the fourth most abundant element in the universe and the fifteenth most abundant on Earth. It is the sixth element on the Periodic Table of Elements with four valence electrons that are used to bond with other atoms. Atoms tend to fill their outer shell with eight valence electrons to remain stable. This leads to atoms sharing or exchanging electrons to satisfy that requirement. This property lends to the versatile nature of carbon and explains the numerous forms that it comes in and why carbon is essential for all living organisms. Carbon is a basic building block of numerous molecules and lends itself to creating intricate chemical structures. Currently, there are over ten million know carbon molecules in existence. An entire branch of chemistry known as organic chemistry is dedicated solely to the study of carbon molecules and their properties. Carbon has many allotropes, which are different structural forms of the same element, due to its valency. Common allotropes of carbon like graphite and diamond vary greatly in physical appearance and properties due to the differences in their structure. Graphene itself is a single layer of graphite with carbon arranged in a honey-comb structure. The first time that graphene was isolated and produced in a lab was in 2004 by researchers Andre Geim and Kostya Novoselov. Further studies have shown that graphene’s two-dimensional structure lends itself to having incredible properties such as its efficient electrical and thermal

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conductivity as well its strength.This scientific breakthrough has since then furthered the research of graphene and greatly garnered public interest in the material’s practical applications.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT
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... beyond the linear regime. (Lee et al. 385)

At the time of testing, graphene was the toughest material known to man, before the discovery of carbyne - a one-dimensional carbon material. A single sheet of graphene had enough strength to withstand the weight of a full-grown elephant. Yet for graphene to be visible to the human eye, it would take three-million sheets stacked on top of each other to make it one centimeter thick.

THERMAL PROPERTIES

ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES

APPLICATIONS OF GRAPHENE

Batteries, supercapacitors, light-weight vehicles, electric cars, flexible transparent electronics, faster computers, desalination of water, biological applications

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Works Cited

Lee, C., X. Wei., J. W. Kysar., J. Hone. Measurement of the Elastic Properties and Intrinsic

Strength of Monolayer Graphene. Science, Vol. 321 no. 5887, pp. 385-388. 2008. Print.

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