Andre Geim: Why graphene is the stuff of the future

11:16 05 October 2010 by Andre Geim, writing for the New Scientist magazine

New Scientist asked Andre Geim, co-winner of the 2010 Nobel prize for physics, to explain the importance of graphene and other 2D materials as part of our forthcoming "50 ideas to change science forever" special. Here's what he wrote

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.

These 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 stiffer than diamond, yet can be stretched by a quarter of its length, like rubber. Its surface area is the largest known for its weight.

Despite graphene's thinness it is impermeable to gases or liquids. It conducts heat and electricity better than copper, and can be made into transistors which are faster than those made from silicon.

It makes possible experiments with high-speed quantum particles that researchers at CERN near Geneva, Switzerland, can only dream of.

With such an array of properties, there are high hopes for what we might accomplish with graphene. Optimists say we are entering a carbon age. Even pessimists argue only that the impact will be somewhat less.

Andre Geim is at the University of Manchester, UK