Graphene : the "wonder" material of the 21st century

Throughout history, mankind never cease to research for new materials and new processes in order to create new paths toward a brighter future. However, despite all the benefits that we obtained during the last two decades both from the digitalisation of industrial processes and the exploitation of rare earth elements in digital devices (smartphones, microchips...), numerous challenges also emerged (pollution, natural ressources scarcity...) and are for now left unanswered. In this aspect, the discovery of graphene and of its unique properties in 2004 by the nobel prizes Geim and Novoselov appears like a unexpected chance to solve most of our problems in the years to come.

But first, what is graphene ?

Graphene is, thus far, one of the biggest accomplishment of the 21st century in physics. Technically, it is a single layer of carbon packed in a hexagonal (honeycomb) lattice and is the first two dimensionnal crystalline material ever produced, leading the way to the extraction of other similar 2D - materials like the single layer Boron-nitride or the single layer Molybdenum-disulphide. Howether, what is really important from an economical standpoint is the amazing properties of this new material which are listed below :

• More than 100 times stronger than steel
• Can flex up to 20% without damage
• Able to carry 1000 times the density of electrical current vs copper
• Able to conduct heat 10 times better than copper
• 97.3% transparent
• Hydrophobic
• One atom thick (to get a 1mm thick sheet, we'll need to stack around 3 million layers of it)
• Extra-light

Following this exhaustive list we can now understand why so many scientists refer to it as the "wonder material" able to redefine entire industries in the decades to come.

Furthermore, the only current drawback of the graphene which is the scalability of its production can well be soon becoming history thanks to the breakthrough work of MIT researchers, who developed a method combining a roll-to-roll approach with the common graphene fabrication technique of chemical vapor deposition enabling as such the production of long rolls of high-quality graphene with a very high consistency over time.

Potential impact of graphene

Due to it's great properties, graphene can revolutionnize many compartments of our society and of our way to process and create things in order to aim toward a greener society. If we look at the interconnection inside electronic hardwares for example, one problem that company such as Samsung actually encounter is the granularity of thin slice of copper which generates a loss of heat and a general degradation of the hardware later on when the copper diffuse this heat to the silicon part due to the physical contact between the two materials. However, if we were able to put a barrier of graphene between the copper and the silicon part, then due to the fact that only electrons and protons can pass trough graphene, the copper will not be in contact with the silicon anymore allowing much more durable lifecycle for interconnect components. Also given the fact that graphene is an excellent electrical and thermal conductor, the overall capacity of the interconnect components will be enhanced allowing a lowering of their electrical consumption and a global reduction in energy consumption across the globe given their common use in every digital devices.

Graphene can also help in solving the problem of fresh water in countries like Israel suffering from the gradual disapearance of their water ressources due to global warming. Indeed due to it's hydrophobia trait, graphene naturally repels water, but when narrow pores are made in it, it becomes possible to let water molecules pass while blocking the passage of contaminants and substance. Moreover, it has been discovered that thin membranes made from graphene oxide are impermeable to all gases and vapors besides water, and that an accurate mesh can be made to allow ultrafast separation of atomic species that are very similar in size. This last point enabling, as such, super efficient filtering and a possibility of using seawater as a drinking water resource in a fast and relatively simple way. One current example of such filter is the one produce by a team of CSIRO scientists called GraphAir which succeed in purifying a sample of Sidney harbour water in one simple step.

Another good example of use for graphene can be found in eco-friendly paint such as the one produce by The graphene company which uses the thermal conductivity of the graphene to capture the heat and convey it trough the whole painted area to create an overall enhancing of the insulation of the building and allow a diminution of its global electric consumption

Other examples of possible use for graphene :

So we can see that graphene could very well redefine the world of tomorow while allowing us to develop a more eco-friendly society with a reduce energy consumption and an improve access to scarce ressources such as fresh water. Moreover, it would also allow us to reduce our dependency toward rare earth elements and reduce the extreme pollution due to their extraction in places like Congo, China or South Asia.

To conclude, if the process of production developed by the researchers of MIT allows in the years to come to scale up the production of graphene at an industrial level, it could be very interesting from an investment standpoint to invest in companies such as The Graphene company or Standard Graphene which produce graphene or graphene based solutions.