What is graphene?

 

Graphene pure carbon in the form of a very thin, nearly transparent sheet, one atom thick.

Graphene is remarkably strong for its very low weight (about 100 times stronger than steel and it conducts heat and electricity with great efficiency. While scientists had theorized about graphene for decades, it was first produced in the lab in 2003. Because it is virtually two-dimensional, it interacts oddly with light and with other materials and allowing for applications and products previously impossible just a few years ago.

Graphene can be described as a one-atom thick layer of graphite where carbon atoms are densely packed in a chicken wire (hexagonal) pattern. It is the basic structural element of other forms of carbon including graphite, charcoal and carbon nanotubes. 

Graphene research has expanded quickly since the substance was first isolated in 2004. The existence of Graphene had been theorized for decades but in 2004 when Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov at the University of Manchester isolated it Graphene research began to expand rapidly.