What exactly is Graphene? | Kiftat

What is Graphene? 

Graphene is the thinnest material on earth or also said that the thinnest material known to human. Graphene's thickness is incredible as it has only a one atom thick layer of carbon atoms which is arranged in a hexagonal pattern. Actually, these graphene atoms are from Graphite (graphite is a carbon material which is used in pencil tip and other things). The Graphene is also the strongest material in the world.

Graphene material

What is Graphene made up of? 

Graphene is a excellent material for human use and you must be thinking that what is this material made of?

So, the answer is- This material is made up of the carbon atoms in a repeating pattern of hexagonal shape. To make graphene, we have to remove all the layers of graphite except one, because the graphene is made from the carbon material graphite. 

Graphene's properties

Graphene strength is amazing and incredible because as it is only a one atom thick material but it's strength is going about 200 times stronger than steel. Also, Graphene is an excellent conductor of heat and electricity and it's not enough yet, it also have a amazing light absorption abilities.

 

Graphene's Ability

Graphene has a extremely combining property with other elements such as gases and metals and produce a different type of element with a higher properties than other.  Some researchers all over the world are continuously research on graphene to learn how it's work on various applications, which include:

Batteries: It will change the view of today's batteries.

Water filters: Because of it's one atom thickness and a hexagonal pattern, only water atoms can pass through the gap between the atoms that makes the graphene a professional water filter.
Transistors: Graphene makes them most powerful than today's.
Computer chips: Graphene makes your computer or smartphone thousand times more faster than before.
Solar cells: By giving power to solar cells by graphene, the solar panels work more powerful than before.
Energy generation: Graphene give a gift to generate more energy than before.
Antennas: An antenna is a device that can captures and transmits radio electromagnetic waves and this magical material (graphene) will give more power to them.
Touchscreens: Will uses in LCD and OLED displays.

From these characteristics and abilities make graphene a magical and wondrous material that can change our world.

Producing graphene

The uses of Graphene is very much but producing a high quality graphene material is very expensive and it makes a challenge to produce it. Many companies around the world are trying to produce graphene, they produce different types and different quality of graphene materials that ranges from high quality single layer graphene that synthesized using a CVD based process to graphene flakes produced from graphite in large volumes.
The high quality graphene sheets are mostly used in R&D activities(that introduce new product and services) or in extreme applications such as sensors. The graphene flakes are produced in large quantities and at lower prices and these are uses in many applications such as automotive, sports equipment, consumer electronics, and many more.

Graphene element

Graphene based products

There are many companies that produce graphene and graphene-based products. In the market, you can find many graphene based products. The industry that was adopted graphene based products early was The sport industry. This shows by the 2013 HEAD that started shipping graphene tennis rackets that called The YouTek Graphene Speed Series.

For sensors, the graphene is a great choice for sensor market. In the year 2016, the San Diego based Nanomedical Diagnostics is started shipping it's graphene sensors and the AGILE R100 system which allows for real time detection of small molecules. The graphene sensor offers faster sample processing, greater accuracy, portability and cost savings which makes them more profitable than before.

 
Graphene are also using in the consumer electronics market, the Huawei's flagship smartphones are in the graphene based products list that uses in the film cooling technology for heat management purposes.

The another big company that uses graphene for their products is Ford company that use graphene-reinforced foam covers for noisy components in its 2019 F-150 and its Mustang cars. Ford uses this graphene mixed with foam constituents, and the resulting parts are said to be 17% quieter, 20% stronger, and 30% more heat-resistant that was amazing for the car.

For the Batteries, the graphene plays a vital role in it because of its great abilities graphene make battery flexible, lightweight, high capacity and 5 times more fast charging that can charge only in 12 minutes. Samsung, the one of the biggest smartphone leading company was said that they are working on graphene based batteries for the smartphones.

From these super abilities of graphene makes graphene a wondrous material that has the ability to change the world with its unlimited potential for integration in almost any industry.