Graphene : The Greatest Breakthrough Originates From Something Simple

New sciences have also contributed to technology, as in the theoretical preparation for the invention of the steam engine. In the 20th century, innovations in semiconductor technology increased the performance and decreased the cost of electronic materials and devices by a factor of a million, an achievement unparalleled in the history of any technology.”

Ever since graphene has been found, scientists began to wonder how the substance will play a huge role in our future. Predicting which sector graphene can improve is easy. With the prior knowledge from previous experiments, the characteristics found could be used to formulate a list of industrial sectors where the specific characteristics would be useful. However, the experimentation for these hypotheses require countless amount of experimentation. In most cases, graphene would be mixed with several other useful materials to create a composite material. These added materials could make the composite material stronger, lighter, harder, etc. Unfortunately, these added materials may also bring in unfavorable changes. Furthermore, nobody

In thinking of how the atoms are arranged in this ball, the scientists considered the geodesic domes designed by the architect-engineer, R. Buckminster Fuller. These domes led them to suspect a structure of interlocking hexagons and pentagons, identical to those of a soccer ball. They named this C60 allotrope of carbon buckminsterfullerene because this idea was inspired by the geodesic dome.

Thus, it is reasonable to expect more layers of graphene on nickel and less layers graphene on copper.

Each carbon atom is covalently bonded (sp2 hybridized) to three other carbon atoms in a hexagonal array, leaving one free electron per each carbon atom. Each hexagon in the graphene sheet exhibits two pi-electrons, which are delocalized allowing for the efficient conduction of electricity. A single layer of graphite is called grapheme. This material displays extraordinary electrical, thermal and physical properties. Graphene is technically a non-metal but is often referred to as a quasi-metal due to its properties being like that of a semiconducting material and allowing it to display high electron mobility at room temperature.

Graphite is a form of carbon which is an element. In graphite, the carbon atoms are joined together and arranged in layers. The links between the carbon atoms in the layer are strong, but the links between the layers are weak. The layers easily slip over each other. That's why graphite in a pencil is soft and you can see a mark when you write with it on paper.

Graphene is easy to make you only need Scotch tape and some pencil lead (carbon is not lead it is graphite). It is one of the most versatile elements and is in all forms of steel. Due to graphite being so soft it is a great lubricant and can be bought in a very fine powder for that application. Diamonds are one of the hardest material. Diamonds have found applications in jewelry to tools and equipment. The best tools you can buy have micro diamonds inserted into the metal of the tools. Diamond drill bits are able to drill into hardened metal without breaking or severely disfiguring the bits. However if you heat diamonds up to much they will be oxidized into carbon dioxide. Fires make micro diamonds that almost immediately burn up. The structural difference of these two forms are interesting. The graphite has a hexagonal structure, and the diamond has a square crystalline structure which accounts for its hardness. Since carbon is a group 4a element, meaning it has two inner electrons and four outer and needs four or to give four electrons to get its perfect form, and most bonds of carbon are hexagonal or like a tree with branches coming off from the carbon. Carbon has the highest number of possible bonds of all of the elements, which is why it is the basis of life and organisms are able to be so different.

Multi wall nanotubes are made up of multiple roll layered of graphene. It can come out either in the course of a coaxial assembly of SWNT similar to a coaxial line, or as a single sheet of graphite rolled into the form of a coil. The diameter of MWNTs is usually in the range of 5 nm to 50 nm while the interlayer distance is as close as the distance between graphene layers in graphite. MWNT is easily produced in high volume quantities compared to SWNT but the structure of MWNT isles understood as it possessed greater complexity and variety. So, the regions of structural imperfection may diminish its desirable properties.

Graphene is a form of carbon which has recently been receiving a great deal of attention. Some have come to call it “the wonder material” due to its many extraordinary properties. Although isolated in 2004, graphene's properties had been calculated decades earlier. It consists of a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice. A single sheet of graphene is stronger than steel and yet remains very flexible, retaining all of its properties despite being bent and unbent multiple times. It is able to sustain extremely high electric current densities, is impermeable to all gasses, has a thermal conductivity double that of diamond and a very high electron mobility at room temperature. It is also easily chemically functionalized,

Structural defects which are inevitable during the production, chemical and heat treatment processes can affect the mechanical properties of graphene and also defects can be deliberately introduced in graphene by ion beam irradiation to get required properties for specific applications. So, understanding the effect of defects on mechanical properties and failure behaviours of a graphene sheet is important for its applications. In this work, the effects of linear and angular orientation of different types of Stone-Thrower-Wales (STW-1 and STW-2) defects on the mechanical properties and failure behaviour of graphene membrane have been investigated in the frame of molecular dynamics. This work discussing about tuneable mechanical properties by amending the linear orientation of STW-1 and STW-2 defects at different angles in zigzag direction and armchair direction respectively. The results obtained from the present work may provide the insights in tailoring the mechanical properties by preparing defects in graphene, and give a full picture for the applications of graphene with defects in flexible electronics and nanodevices.

When a company takes on the task of manufacturing a new material, steps have to be taken to ensure that safety regulations are met. Given the fact that nanotechnology is relatively new in the United States, there are few regulations regarding nanomaterials and the handling of them. This paper discusses the history of nanomaterials and control strategies that could be implemented in order to protect workers in a pharmaceutical company that has started to manufacture a product that requires workers to handle nanomaterials.

Structural defects are inevitable in graphene due to its production techniques as well as chemical and heat treatment processes. These defects in graphene are introduced either during the production process or deliberately by us to tailor its properties. In this article, the effect of nearest neighbour distance and angular orientation between Stone-Thrower-Wales defects (STW-2) on the mechanical properties and failure morphology of graphene was investigated in the frame of molecular dynamics. Mechanical properties and failure morphology of graphene was predicted to be the function of angular orientation between STW-2 defects, when the nearest neighbour distance was in the range of 10 Å. Graphene sheet containing pair of STW-2 defects had shown an overall increase of 8% and 11% in fracture strength and strain respectively as compared to graphene with single STW-2 defect. This study also characterised the failure morphology of graphene sheet with single and pair of STW-2 defects in the armchair direction.

ABSTRACT: One atom-thick sheet of carbon discovered this century is flaunted not just for its electrical properties but also for its physical strength and flexibility. The bonds between carbon atoms are well known as the strongest in nature, so a perfect sheet of graphene should withstand just about anything, but to use it in real-time applications, we have to understand the useful strength of graphene. So for, researchers have looked extensively at graphene’s electronic properties and tensile strength, nobody, had taken comprehensive measurements of its ability to withstand a compressive load. We find that, counter to standard reasoning, graphene sheets with Stone-Thrower-Wales (STW) defects are able to bear high compressive stress as compared to pristine graphene. We show that this trend can be understood by considering the critical bonds in the seven and five-membered carbon rings which bears the maximum compressive stress. Graphene with STW defects is stronger in compressive strength point of view because they are able to better accommodate these strained rings. Our results provide guidelines for designing graphene with STW defects to obtain maximum compressive strength, so that we can get the benefit of this

Structural defects which are inevitable during the production, chemical and heat treatment processes can affect the mechanical properties of graphene and also defects can be deliberately introduced in graphene by ion beam irradiation to get required properties for specific applications. So, understanding the effect of defects on mechanical properties and failure behaviours of a graphene sheet is important for its applications. In this work, the effects of linear and angular orientation of different types of Stone-Thrower-Wales (STW-1 and STW-2) defects on the mechanical properties and failure behaviour of graphene membrane have been investigated in the frame of molecular dynamics. This work discussing about tuneable mechanical properties by amending the linear orientation of STW-1 and STW-2 defects at different angles in zigzag direction and armchair direction respectively. The results obtained from the present work may provide the insights in tailoring the mechanical properties by preparing defects in graphene, and give a full picture for the applications of graphene with defects in flexible electronics and nanodevices.

Stone-Thrower-Wales (STW) defect also referred as pentagon-heptagon-heptagon-pentagon (5-7-7-5) defect is formed by rotating a C-C bond by π/2, which transforms 4 hexagons into 2 pentagons and 2 heptagons as illustrated in Fig.1. Due to hexagonal and symmetric geometry of graphene system, only two types of STW defects are possible, STW1 and STW2 defects that are explained with the help of Fig.1. One of the main feature of graphene with STW defects is that it retains the same number of atoms as the pristine graphene, and also forms without creating any dangling bonds.