Graphene is Coming? Graphene Is Already Here (and More of It Is Coming)

Andrei Mihai

Graphene, a material consisting of a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb lattice, was first isolated in 2003 by Nobel laureates Sir Andre Geim and Sir Konstantin Novoselov. This remarkable material has a number of exciting physical properties and has already made its way into several industries ranging from electronics to environmental protection.

In the traditional Lindau Lecture at the 11th Heidelberg Laureate Forum, Novoselov presented some of these properties and applications to the audience.

A Two-Dimensional Material

Graphene is the first single-layer material ever discovered. It is also the thinnest possible material (only one atom thick), completely impermeable, and outperforms the best conductors. “It gives you maybe four times higher thermal conductivity than copper,” Novoselov said.

For many practical purposes, graphene is a two-dimensional material, which grants it further exceptional properties. Yet it is also strikingly simple, says Novoselov. “It’s only one atom thick, and carbon is one of the lightest, simplest elements you can imagine.”

In graphene, electrons mimic massless particles like photons. Along with its high electrical and thermal conductivity, flexibility, and strength, this opens the door to applications in quantum computing, high-speed electronics, and sensors. Its high electrical and thermal conductivity, flexibility, and strength make it an excellent candidate for numerous applications. It usually takes decades for newly developed materials to hit the market, yet, in the case of graphene, things have moved exceptionally fast.

The first applications, however, are not very practical. As Novoselov pointed out, new technologies often start with small, high-end applications, particularly in sports or luxury products. The laureate mentions that graphene was used to create the world’s lightest watch, at only 38 grams, although, as Novoselov humorously noted, per gram “it’s also the world’s most expensive.” Another similar early application is in sports goods such as tennis rackets, where users are willing to pay a premium for a minor performance improvement.

But graphene has already made it beyond luxury goods. One of its most important current applications is in the electronics industry, particularly for thermal management in modern devices. Several foldable phones on the market today use graphene to dissipate heat more efficiently, allowing these devices to function without overheating. This is crucial, especially as electronics continue to shrink in size while demanding more processing power.

“You need really efficient cooling. For this, you need materials with high thermal conductivity, and that’s graphene,” Novoselov mentions.

As if the smartphone industry was not enough, graphene’s applications are already impacting industries such as telecommunications and water purification.

Optoelectronics and Water

“For the near future, probably one of the most exciting applications is the use of graphene in optoelectronic applications,” the laureate continued. Much of the internet traffic we use nowadays comes through fiber optic cables, but converting that data back and forth between optical and electronic signals is inefficient and energy-intensive.

“Ideally, you would love to work with the optical signal directly, but for that, you need materials that can change optical properties when voltage is applied,” Novoselov explained. Graphene, in combination with other two-dimensional materials, could make this possible, allowing for faster, more energy-efficient data processing.

Research centers in Europe are already exploring how to harness graphene for this purpose, with the goal of revolutionizing telecommunications and internet infrastructure.

Another application is in water desalination. As many regions face worsening droughts and water scarcity, particularly in arid and densely populated areas, desalination offers a critical solution by converting seawater into drinkable water. In places like Singapore, the vast majority of water comes from desalination, but several other countries use membranes to filter water.

Membranes made from graphene are currently being used in countries such as Australia to filter water more efficiently than traditional polymer membranes. These membranes allow water molecules to pass through while blocking salts and other contaminants, offering a more sustainable solution to water scarcity.

In fact, there is already so much demand for graphene that producing it can become a challenge.

Scaling Up Graphene

Graphene was initially produced in laboratories using a method known as mechanical exfoliation, where a piece of graphite (the material found in pencils) is repeatedly peeled using adhesive tape until only a single layer of graphene remains. This simple, low-cost technique is often referred to as the “scotch tape method.” This approach is remarkably effective and is still used in the lab because “it’s the quickest and gives you high-quality graphene,” the laureate says.

However, as the potential applications of graphene expanded, a more scalable way was desirable. The most promising method for scaling graphene production is chemical vapor deposition. This process involves flowing a carbon-containing gas over a heated surface, typically a metal catalyst. The carbon atoms in the gas decompose and settle on the surface, forming a layer of graphene. This technique allows for large-scale production and can utilize various carbon feedstocks, making it flexible and efficient.

The beauty of this process, says Novoselov, is that you can use pretty much any source of carbon, including greenhouse gas emissions. In other words, you could prevent carbon from entering the atmosphere and use it for something useful. Specifically, Novoselov is interested in methane flares.

Methane flares are used in oil and gas refineries and petrochemical plants to burn off excess methane and other waste gasses instead of releasing them into the atmosphere. They are a direct source of methane emissions. As methane is a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, capturing it straight at the source is an important part of our climate efforts.

“There we have everything we need to produce graphene: the high temperature and the carbon supply in the form of methane. So we can basically use the heat and turn it into graphene.” It gets even better, the laureate continues. “Because we know exactly how much graphene we produced, we can register it on a ledger, on the blockchain, and then apply for the carbon credit offset. So rather than emitting greenhouse gas, we turn it into graphene and we’re actually getting paid for this. It’s quite a serious business.”

The only problem is that if this approach were scaled, you would end up with too much graphene; however, Novoselov also has a solution for that in the concrete industry.

If concrete were a nation, it would rank among the largest producers of greenhouse gases in the world. The production of concrete, particularly cement – the key binding ingredient – releases significant amounts of carbon dioxide (around 8% of the global CO2 emissions). Reducing the carbon footprint of concrete is another key aspect of our fight against climate change.

By adding graphene to concrete, researchers have found they can increase its strength by up to 50%, thus reducing the amount of cement needed, and thus lowering CO2 emissions in one of the world’s most polluting industries. So you prevent carbon from being emitted into the atmosphere and you use it in a material where it also reduces emissions.

Living in a Material World

Novoselov also reflected on the historical practice of naming ages after dominant materials, such as the Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age. This all goes to show just how much materials have shaped human progress.

Currently, the laureate mentions, we have the luxury of choice. For the first time, we have multiple choices for naming our current era, with options like the Silicon Age, Nuclear Age, or Digital Age, depending on which material or technology we emphasize. However, he suggests that we should be cautious about labeling our era based on a single material, as doing so can limit our perspective on the diverse and evolving nature of material science.

Instead, he encourages thinking more broadly and more audaciously. We should not limit ourselves to one or a few defining materials, we should ask for more.

“You don’t want to be a slave to those few materials. You want to create some new materials on demand. If an engineer wants to create a new device, typically, the engineer would need to check what silicon can do and then work within those restrictions. Ideally, you don’t want those restrictions. You want to freely create some new idea, and then design a material around it. And it is possible.”

He gives the example of graphene and other two-dimensional materials, which have already begun to reshape industries. Although we are still in the early days of such technology and we are still learning how to harness its full potential, the speed at which graphene has moved from discovery to real-world applications is remarkable; and other two-dimensional materials are right around the corner.

Graphene, it seems, is not just coming – it has already arrived, and its impact is only beginning to be felt.

The post Graphene is Coming? Graphene Is Already Here (and More of It Is Coming) originally appeared on the HLFF SciLogs blog.