14 DAY TRIAL // A team of experts from the University of Texas in Austin announces the development of a new technique for producing massive single crystals of graphene, which are roughly 10,000 times larger than what could be achieved just 4 years ago. The crystals obtained with this approach can measure up to a centimeter in size, and sometimes even more.
Graphene is a material made up entirely of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice. It is only one atom thick, and is one of the strongest materials in the world. When first developed in 2004, researchers predicted that it would have excellent physical and chemical properties.
Over the years, it was discovered that large single graphene crystals had exceptional electrical properties, but creating such structures in the lab proved challenging. The UTA team exceeded this obstacle by using surface oxygen to promote the crystals' growth, e! Science News reports.
The leader of the study, UTA Cockrell School of Engineering professor Rodney S. Ruoff, says that surface oxygen can promote the growth of tiny graphene crystal seeds – in a process called nucleation – while also allowing the researchers to select which of these nuclei will grow to larger sizes.