What is graphene, what is it used for, why is it so strong and when was it discovered?
The carbon form's crystals were found as recently as 2004 - using Scotch tape
IT'S the supermaterial that's 300 times stronger than steel and is fuelling ever bolder inventions.
As graphene spawns yet another innovation, we take a look at everything we know about the carbon superstar of the elemental world.
What is graphene?
Graphene is a two-dimensional form (allotrope) of carbon that consists of a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice.
It's the basic structural element of many other allotropes (forms) of carbon, such as graphite, charcoal, carbon nanotubes and fullerenes.
It's the first 2D crystal ever known to humankind and the thinnest object ever obtained - and the lightest.
It can take any form at all and has spawned a whole set of new crystals.
What is it used for?
Graphene is a nearly transparent and flexible conductor that can be used in solar cells, light-emitting diodes, touch panels and smart windows or phones.
Graphene-based touch panel modules were produced by a China-based company and sold to mobile phone, wearable device and home appliance manufacturers.
An "unbreakable" touchscreen made with a hybrid of graphene and silver nanowire could also be rolled out to British consumers this year, potentially saving users thousands of pounds.
The uses of the tough carbon form appear unrestricted by field.
In 2017, the South China Morning Post reported that Chinese manufacturers were using graphene in underwear to retain heat, eliminate odour and kill bacteria - though scientists seemed less than convinced.
And in 2018 researchers from Australia announced that they'd used a graphene-based product to make a water filter, that can make highly-polluted sea water drinkable after just one pass.
They claim that Graphair could be used to provide safe drinking water to parts of the world with no access to it.
The product, made of soybean oil, filters the water by allowing water through but stopping larger pollutants with larger molecules.
Graphene the new hair dye
Along with its many other uses graphene also has another use – hair dye that can also help protect your hair.
Research published in the has indicated graphene has promise as a hair dye and it also reduces static flyaway hair as well as breakage.
Conventional permanent hair dyes use alkaline substances like ammonia, which penetrates the hair, and because of this, it becomes weakened leaving it prone to breaking.
Graphene though merely coats the hair meaning it is not damaged and there is no need for reactive chemicals.
In an experiment using human hair samples, platinum blonde hair was turned black and kept its look for at least 30 washes.
Black is the easiest shade to achieve, but it can be used to create shades from light brown through to black, and could even create a gradient or "ombre" effect, where the hair starts dark at the roots and lightens toward the ends.
Why is it so strong?
Graphene holds the impressive accolade of being the strongest material ever tested, being 300 times stronger than steel.
Its strength lies in its "chicken wire" type atomic structure.
The tightly packed carbon atom structure along with is combination of orbitals s, px and py that constitute the σ-bond make it incredibly strong.
It can also self-repair holes in its sheets when exposed to molecules containing carbons.
When was it discovered?
Graphene was first studied as long ago as 1947, but isolated for the first time in 2004.
Graphene's ability to conduct was pointed out theoretically in 1984, and the name was first used in 1987 to describe the graphite layers that had various compounds inserted between them.
Attempts to grow graphene on other single crystal surfaces have been ongoing since the 1970s, but strong interactions with the surface always prevented isolating graphene.
That was until 2004, when scientists at the University of Manchester removed some flakes from a lump of bulk graphite with Scotch tape during a Friday night experiment session.
Their curiosity was piqued when they saw smaller flakes had come off - and they decided to investigate a little further.
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By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly they managed to create flakes which were just one atom thick - they had isolated graphene for the first time.
By studying their physical properties, they managed to demonstrate that electrons in graphene could be used in electronic applications.
Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov's ground-breaking work means that graphene crystals can now be used in a wide range of industries, and won them both the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010.
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