On a Roll with Graphene

摘要

The 2010 Nobel prize in physics was awarded to Sir Professors Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov for their pioneering work on a one-atom thick carbon material, called graphene. Graphene, which looks like carbon chicken wire, is a single layer of the more well-known material, graphite, which has modest application as the writing component in pencils. In comparison, graphene has remarkable properties from being a bench-top version of a CERN experiment, with charge-carriers that travel unimpeded and at a fraction of the speed of light, to it being the strongest known material, with record thermal conductivity, high elasticity and tunable optical transmission. Unlike graphite, its potential applications are stellar and beyond ordinary; from nanoscale technologies, to sensors and future conductive coatings – the list is diverse, far-reaching and in short, phenomenal! This presentation will provide an accessible account of this miracle material: its discovery, properties, methods of production and applications, with particular emphasis on graphene’s potential impact and use in the coating and laminating industries.