What is Graphene?
Graphene, a two-dimensional form of crystalline carbon, either a single layer of carbon atoms forming a honeycomb (hexagonal) lattice or several coupled layers of this honeycomb structure. The word graphene, when used without specifying the form (e.g., bilayer graphene, multilayer graphene), usually refers to single-layer graphene. A graphene is a parent form of all graphitic structures of carbon: graphite, which is a three-dimensional crystal consisting of relatively weakly coupled graphene layers; nanotubes, which may be represented as scrolls of graphene; and buckyballs, spherical molecules made from graphene with some hexagonal rings replaced by pentagonal rings.
New graphene nanoribbons could enable smaller electronic devices
A new collaborative study has reported a 17-carbon wide graphene nanoribbon and found that it has the tiniest bandgap observed so far among familiar graphene nanoribbons prepared through a bottom-up approach. The study is part of a project of CREST, JST Japan including Nara Institute of Science and Technology (NAIST), the University of Tokyo, Fujitsu Laboratories and Fujitsu.
Energy storage
Because graphene is the world's thinnest material, it is also the material with the highest surface-area to volume ratio. This makes graphene a very promising material to be used in batteries and supercapacitors. Graphene may enable batteries and supercapacitors (and even fuel-cells) that can store more energy - and charge faster, too. check out more from here.
Doped graphene shows promise for sodium-ion batteriesScientists at EPFL have recently published a research that could open up new pathways to boosting the capacity of sodium-ion batteries. “Lithium is becoming a critical material as it is used extensively in cell-phones and car batteries, while, in principle, sodium could be a much cheaper, more abundant alternative,” says Ferenc Simon, a visiting scientist in the group of László Forró at EPFL. “This motivated our quest for a new battery architecture: sodium doped graphene.”