Graphene

摘要

Everything in our three-dimensional world has a width, length and height. That was what we thought, at least. But this picture overlooks a whole class of materials: crystals one atom or molecule thick, essentially two-dimensional planes of atoms shaved from conventional crystals.rnThese are turning out to be wonder materials. Take graphene, the single layers of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb lattice that my colleagues and I first isolated in 2004. Graphene is stronger and stiff er than diamond, yet can be stretched by a quarter of its length, like rubber. Its surf ace area is the largest known for its weight.