Applied Physics and Materials Science

Graphene

A form of carbon that consists of single layer of carbon atoms which are arranged in hexagonal lattice shape is called Graphene. In other allotropes of carbon such as graphite, charcoal, carbon nanotubes and fullerenes, Graphene acts as the basic structural element. The name ‘Graphene’ is a named after the combination of graphite and suffix “–ene” (named by Hanns-Peter Boehm), which means single layer of carbon foils. It is a crystalline allotrope of carbon with two-dimensional properties. Its carbon atoms are closely packed in hexagonal chicken wire pattern and because of which its stability is high. It can self-repair holes in its sheets, when exposed to molecules containing carbon as the atoms perfectly align into hexagons, completely filling the holes.