Graphene: How Is It Made?

Learn how to make graphene. Who knew the toughest materials could be found with just a pencil and a piece of Scotch tape?

Really? you can?

Yes, you can. In fact, even with those two things, last year in 2010, two physicists were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for their discoveries.

Their discovery is called graphene.

This carbon-based material is the thinnest and strongest material on the planet. It is made of graphite (a common form of carbon) and diamonds. And this material is often used in pencil lead.

Making graphene at home

Given the easy way to discover graphene, you can make it at home.

All you need to do is place the graphite sheet on the tape, fold it in half, and cut the sheet in half. Repeat this process five more times and you'll find tiny fragments only one atom thick.

To identify graphene, you have to place Scotch tape from the cut graphite flakes on a microscope slide. Once you've got it there, examine them under a microscope and take a closer look at where you most often stick to the graphite flakes. You can examine the layers there that allow light to pass through because graphene has the property of absorbing more light.

Once you see that layer, then voila. You created graphene!

Graphene mass production

For industrial manufacturers, this is not how graphene is made.

In fact, the large-scale production of graphene is expensive.

But thanks to engineers at MIT, a recent breakthrough may be the answer to mass-producing high-quality graphene strips at a lower cost.

According to John Hart, director of MIT's Manufacturing and Productivity Laboratory, they used a roll-to-roll approach, combining chemical vapor deposition with graphene fabrication techniques to produce thin, long graphene foils.

According to the test results, it is shown that the technology can produce high-quality graphene at a speed of 5 centimeters per minute. It has a maximum run time of four hours, producing 10m of continuous graphene.

Although the breakthrough still requires further research and testing, the discovery will pave the way for more graphene production technologies.