Why is graphene special?

By Hamish Johnston

The Institute of Physics has just published a brochure extolling the virtues of graphene – sheets of carbon just one atom thick.

The pamphlet begins with a description of graphene, how it was first isolated by Manchester’s Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, and a discussion of its amazing properties.

“Graphene offers the seductive prospect of fast, nanoscale electronic devices,” it says. However, the brochure also rightly points out that “making and manipulating graphene is a daunting task, and the techniques are not yet in place to fabricate devices commercially”.

The publication goes on to discuss a number of different potential applications for graphene ranging from flexible electronic displays to DNA sequencing. Also covered are the challenges of mass-producing graphene.

The brochure also provides an overview of graphene research in the UK and short biographies of Geim and Novoselov – who shared the 2010 Nobel Prize for Physics for their graphene work.

You can download the brochure here.