Polymer Sciences Open Access

Graphene

Graphene is a semi-metal with a small overlap between the valence and the conduction bands (zero bandgap material). It is an allotrope (form) of carbon consisting of a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice. It is the basic structural element of many other allotropes of carbon, such as graphite, diamond, charcoal, carbon nanotubes and fullerenes. It can be considered as an indefinitely large aromatic molecule, the ultimate case of the family of flat polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Graphene has many uncommon properties. It is the strongest material ever tested, efficiently conducts heat and electricity, and is nearly transparent. Graphene shows a large and nonlinear diamagnetism, greater than that of graphite, and can be levitated by neodymium magnets.