The thinnest material on

Earth - 1000x thinner than human hair

Extremely stiff, but also elastic - stretching 20% of it’s length

The only

2D

material

known to

man

The material with the highest number of

records

It’s the hardest material

known of- harder than a diamond

Graphene contracts when heated & expands when cooled

INSPIRED BY DR C. FOWLER EXECUTED BY VICTOR ZYDE & ERIN VDHEEVER

PiOnEeRiNg

•Generated by the tight bonds between carbon atoms making up graphene •Each atom has 4 bonds: 3 of which are alpha (𝛼) bonds and 1 of which is a pi (𝜋) bond •Graphene is the strongest material known to man with a tensile strength of 130 GPa

Strength

•For the same reasons that graphene is strong, it is also incredibly hard - in fact, it’s even harder than a diamond

Hardness/Stiffness

•Although graphene is hard, it’s also remarkably elastic. Because the flat planes of carbon atoms in graphene can bend relatively easily, graphene has a stretching capacity of 20 -25% of its original length.

Elasticity

•Graphene is 1 atom thick making it as close to 2 dimensional as any material could be, giving it the title of the only two-dimensional material to exist at this point in time.

•Because of its thickness, graphene is incredibly light - 1 m3 of graphene has a mass of 160g whilst 1 m3 of paper has a mass of 950000g

Thinness & Lightness

•Graphene is the currently the best conductor of heat, outclassing copper, silver & even diamonds - furthermore, graphene’s conductivity increases with its size, in theory, causing it to have an unlimited heat absorption capacity, contradicting the laws of thermal conduction

Heat Conductivity

•Because the pi bonds of graphene create a huge orbital, electrons are able to move easily across the planes of the molecule and so causing graphene to have a high electrical conductivity.

Electrical Conductivity

•Graphene allows 97,7% of the light which lands on it to pass through it as the photons of light do not contain enough energy to ‘excite’ the electrons in a bond as stable as that of graphene.

Transparency

•Because atoms of carbon are held so close together in graphene, few substances have the ability to permeate graphene - in fact, not even helium molecules are able to pass through graphene

Impermeability

Graphene in Time & Place Graphene is an allotrope of carbon wherein atoms are

arranged in a honeycomb shaped crystal lattice. Although carbon itself is a non-metal, graphene displays metallic

properties and so is often considered a metalloid. However, graphene’s most remarkable aspect is that it is two-

dimensional.

In 1947, Canadian Physicist, Philip Russel Wallace proposed graphene as a theoretical material. A lack of proper tools prevented him from using the substance and Wallace was

unaware that graphene could be created.

Research and curiosity towards the substance grew, but it was only in the October of 2004 that Russian Scientists,

Andre Geim & Konstantin Novoselov, of the University of Manchester were able to isolate a sheet of graphene using Scotch tape and a process called mechanical exfoliation.

Later scientists were able to synthesize graphene through a technique called chemical vapor deposition

Graphene is the basic structural element of many carbon

allotropes including graphite, carbon nanotubes and fullerenes.

Why Graphene? We chose graphene due to its many interesting

properties and uses. It is highly conductive, though unlike other conductors it is transparent; it is

extremely strong, yet also extremely light; it is stretchable, flexible and impermeable; it is the thinnest material on Earth; and most notably, it is currently the

only two dimensional material, opening the doors to new, experimental fields in both physics and chemistry.

In Conclusion… Graphene has been described as one of the most influential materials in the 21st century and it certainly lives up to that reputation. From being

extremely conductive, yet also transparent to being stronger than steel, yet weighing extremely little, graphene has properties that make it one of the most useful materials to exist. As more funding is put into the research of graphene, we will learn more and more about the material. We are only starting to understand the wonder material and the potentials it has,

which are only limited by our own imagination.

------Strong ------Flexible

------Cost-effective ------Light

------Elastic

Military Armor