Graphene: The Next Wonder Material?

Graphene: The Next Wonder Material?

Tinnesand, Michael. "Graphene: The Next Wonder Material? - American Chemical Society." American Chemical Society. N.p., Oct. 2012. Web. 18 Dec. 2016.

In 2004, scientist discovered a new substance that shook the chemistry world: graphene. It is one atom thick, the best at conducting electricity, and 100 times stronger than steel. It is a new form of carbon that has even better properties than the element carbon. Two chemists from the United Kingdom used sticky tape to separate the layers of carbon in graphite then try to make graphene. The first samples were extremely small but they were big enough to perform experiments on. Graphene is the first substance on Earth to be considered a two-dimensional material since it is only one atom thick. One new invention that graphene can help would be new flexible solar panels. Engineers would like to use the light and flexible properties to their advantage by wrapping the solar panels around the surface of buildings. Since graphene is almost completely transparent to light and absorbs only 2% of light, it is a very efficient, transparent, flexible and cheap electrical conductor. Another new invention that people would like to make happen are foldable cell phones. Scientists want to replace touch screens with graphene on plastic instead of glass. This would make the phones more flexible and much more light. The new product would be able to fold up and fit in a pocket. Also, since graphene is so strong the new phones would be almost unbreakable. The next invention would be into the world of bionics. An invention in this field would improve organs and tissues that have been damaged. Since, graphene is resistant to salty ionic solutions in tissue, it would allow for bionic to possibly sustain a lifetime for people. They would also be beneficial since they can conduct electricity. By having this property they can connect to neurons and send signals that damaged tissue could not. However to make all of these inventions possible, scientist have to accumulate more of graphene. This is a very hard process since it is hard to tell when you have pure graphene. Pure graphene has to be in a perfect hexagon pattern. Scientists are trying to find the perfect method that can produce pure graphene quickly and correctly.

I think that the author, Michael Tinnesand, did a superb job on approaching this new discovery. Throughout the article, he explained things as if he were talking to someone with no background information in the field of science. This was good since some of the things that he was talking about were complicated. Tinnesand stayed on topic throughout the article. Also, in the beginning of the article he caught the reader's attention with an interesting hook. He related the topic to things that the normal person would find interesting. For example, he talked about a new possible invention of the foldable phone. To an everyday this is very intriguing compared to the solar panels. However, the solar panels could be a strong example for another crowd. This is where Tinnesand appeals to all social groups. By doing this, he makes his article far more worth reading.

In my opinion, I believe that this is a reasonable discovery to keep researching. On the other hand, I don't think that it offers much help towards today’s society. It does make things more convenient but it does not really improve technology. However, I do think that it provides an extreme benefit to the world of bionics. By using graphene people with unfixable injuries, like paralysis, can now be cured. I think that this is a remarkable feat. This is one reason as to why I think extensive research into graphene should be continued. I dont think it will be long until we have bendable phones, graphene bionics, and flexible solar panels. It is only a matter of time before someone discovers a way to perfect one method on how to produce more and more graphene.

In the 2011 thriller novel Spiral, a scientist is forced to swallow a swarm of razor-clawed, fungus-tending micro-robots, a scene that hardly presents small machines in a positive light. So it may seem odd that the book’s first-time author, 49-year-old physicist Paul McEuen, is a leader in the field of nanoscience, the study of structures smaller than a micron, or a millionth of a meter.

One might think his fellow scientists would be disturbed that he mined his field for gory ways to kill people. “Actually,” McEuen says, “they were very supportive. I even got a good review in the Journal of Mycology.” Relaxed, thoughtful and highly literate — in a recent academic article he cited Hume, Joyce and Beckett along with Nobel Prize-winning physicists Richard Feynman and Niels Bohr — McEuen is