Graphene: The Wonder Material

Most of you are probably familiar with graphene, that fancy new sheet of material that is one carbon atom thick, 207 times stronger than steel (by weight) and can conduct electricity. Many researchers tout graphene as the 21st century's "wonder material," able to be crafted into the next generation of electronics (beginning the 'post-silicon' era of processing), composite materials (materials made of multiple components with differing properties), as well as countless other applications.

Image Courtesy of Wikimedia

However, there are a few snags to tackle along the way before it gets into the practical realm. In order to tackle some of these problems and to gain a better understanding of the weird properties that come with essentially two-dimensional materials, the Center for Two Dimensional and Layered Materials (2DLM) was established in 2013, bringing together faculty and students from PSU as well as other institutions. The center is working on many exciting projects, but instead of making a separate post for each one, I'll briefly go over a couple of them in this singular post.

One of the major challenges to the use of graphene in industrial applications is the fact that it's just so hard to make a large, pure enough sample of the stuff. One method that has been brought up is called 'intercalation,' which basically means to get a sample of graphite and shove in a bunch of non-carbon atoms in order to more easily pull the sheets of carbon apart. On the molecular scale it would look like the image below. Previous attempts at this method had to use very strong agents that ended up ruining the material, but a group in the 2DLM was able to devise a way to process the reaction without them, meaning that now the reaction just needs to be sped up in order to get the process good for larger scale production.

Image Courtesy of Mallouk Lab/Penn State

Looking to an entirely different focus, the center also has a team that is working on a cool application of graphene: stretchy yarn! By weaving together a bunch of graphene strings, a fiber was created that is much superior strength-wise than other carbon fibers that have been experimented with.

Image Courtesy of Terrones Group/Penn State

Now this might not seem like much, but this carbon string has an abundance of applications. For instance the string may be used as a replacement for copper transmission lines, as graphene conducts electricity better than copper and is also much lighter. It's just better all around pretty much. One could also make trip wires out of it, if that's your thing.

The Center for Two Dimensional and Layered Materials is doing some pretty exciting stuff here at Penn State, and while I only was able to gross over two of the things they are working on right now, there is much much more (their publication list is pretty darn impressive). Graphene is an incredibly exciting material that will certainly change the way many of the things we use now are made. Get ready for the future guys, it's coming pretty fast.