Last Updated on August 14, 2023 by HBW2
From the beginning of human civilisation man has discovered some materials that have changed the world for a period of time. The cave men first discovered the stone as an utility material. The use of this material increased very much that this span of geological time scale is known as ‘Stone age’. Like this way we have seen ‘Bronze age’ and ‘Iron age’. The last century was ‘Steel age’. Steel used in almost every aspect of life. Steel is an alloy of iron, carbon and chromium. The material is used not only in industry but also in household. Considering the fact what is the next material that will reshape our world? The answer is Graphene.
Graphene is a very thin single layered carbon atom hexagonal mesh. Graphene can be derived from Graphite, an allotrope carbon. The concept of graphene was theorised in twentieth century but it is practically discovered by two scientist namely Andre Giem and Constantin Novoslev in 2004. They have exfoliated the multi layered graphene by just a lid pencil and a scotch tape. They were awarded with Nobel prize in 2010. The scalable industrial production of this material is in progress.
Mono Layer Graphene
Now the question comes in mind why it is hyped as wonder material. The properties of this material is magical. It is good a conductor of electricity and heat. Using these properties we can build super conductor, high quality flexible display, efficient solar panel. It is 200 times harder than steel and very stretchable. It is found that a sheet of two layer of graphene can stop penetration of bullet. It can be used as sensor to detect the pollutant in environment. Diagnosis of disease can be done by graphene based sensors. It can be used to manufacture power efficient batteries. Already a company namely ‘Real Graphene’ has manufactured a graphene based battery that can be fully charged within 20 to 25 minutes and it can retain the charge for a long period of time compare to Lithium-Ion battery. The use of graphene in present time is numerous but it is only tip of the iceberg. In near future it will revolutionise the material science. It is supposed that the 21st century will be considered as ‘Graphene age’.
Graphene Based Power Bank