Concrete may have found it's killer app in graphene. Graphene's unique electronic properties offer a material that's impervious to most solvents and corrosion. Concrete may well be the next building material to incorporate graphene and we've only just started to explore the benefits of its properties. Concrete and Graphene?... It's not often we're treated to a really unexpected piece of tech that can bring a completely new dimension to our everyday lives. Graphene is one of those. Graphene promises to be the material that unlocks the secrets of the material world. The material itself was discovered over a decade ago, yet still remains somewhat of a mystery. This short film highlights just a few of the wonders that Graphene offers us and shows how we might start to use the material to the maximum benefit. In 2011, the graphene industry reached $1bn in annual revenues. With the demand for the material expected to increase significantly in the coming years, it looks like we're starting to see the real value of graphene being recognised. At this year's RANDS meeting, a graphene workshop session was held by the Centre for Nanoscale Research and New Devices (CNND) within the National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG). Graphene technology will play a role in many of the emerging technologies and applications of the future. In this article, we explore the opportunities for graphene and take a look at the research being conducted to develop this exciting and disruptive material. Graphene is a single atomic layer of graphite. The carbon atoms are packed together in hexagonal crystals. These crystals are bound together by strong covalent bonds which enable graphene to have remarkable strength and a range of other unique properties. Graphene is an excellent conductor of electricity, and can be manufactured on an industrial scale. A graphene film (Image: University of Notre Dame/Liaojin Ren) In a single atom layer, graphene is both chemically and mechanically extremely stable. It's possible to bond to graphene on both sides, giving us a highly flexible and transparent material. Because graphene has one of the highest theoretical specific surface areas (SSA) known to man, it's also exceptionally able to absorb materials and is therefore ideal as a surface coating. Graphene also has exceptional thermal conductivity, which means that it can also be used to make heat-sink materials. The potential applications of graphene range from thermal management to transparent conductors, from sensors to building materials. Graphene is also unique in that the bonds holding it together can be altered, allowing a range of functionalisation techniques to be developed. Graphene for building applications Graphene's electrical properties have led to much excitement in the development of new electronic devices. Researchers are currently working on graphene's potential to replace the silicon that dominates silicon based devices today. Graphene transistors are an ideal candidate to replace silicon transistors because they have high mobility, which means they conduct better, and are able to operate at much lower temperatures than silicon transistors. Graphene, when combined with carbon nanotubes, is another area of much research. Single layer graphene is strong, flexible, transparent and transparent. CNT composites are very flexible but less transparent. Graphene has the potential to deliver a breakthrough in microprocessor design, due to its exceptional conductivity. If such a breakthrough were to occur, the market for microprocessors and microcontrollers could double by 2010. Graphene: A disruptive material for the future A report published by NREL last month highlighted the potential for carbon nanotubes, graphene and nanodiamonds to revolutionise a number of fields, from the semiconductor to medical technologies. By 2020, the market for carbon nanotubes is predicted to grow to around $9bn per year. A large proportion of this growth is expected to come from applications in semiconductors, including the production of flat-panel displays and lasers. The market for graphene is forecast to grow to $20bn in the next ten years. The report predicted that these numbers would double if graphene were able to replace silicon in future microprocessors. However, there are some concerns over the reliability of CNT composite technology, the market for which is predicted to grow from around $5bn per year to around $19bn by 2020. "The microelectronics market is already a $2.4 trillion market and a doubling in the number of microprocessors is predicted by the end of 2010," said David Mote, who organised the report. "A doubling in the supply of carbon nanotubes may increase the market ten-fold to around $20bn. This does not include the market for carbon nanotubes used for display displays." CNTs are used today as components in many products that need electrical conductivity. The most commonly used CNTs today are multi-walled carbon nanotubes, which can be used to create touch screens for smartphones and portable computers. The market for the material is also forecast to double in the next ten years to around $2.3bn. This increase is expected to be driven by applications in solar cells, displays, and sensors. Another area of growth for CNTs is in the display market. This market is expected to grow from around $450m today to $2bn by 2020. Graphene and nanodiamonds are being looked at as candidates to replace silicon in semiconductors, particularly display manufacturing. Graphene is also thought to be a possible replacement for silicon for the next generation of microprocessors. One of the problems with current microprocessors is that they are based on a technology called CMOS, which means that they need to be able to dissipate a large amount of heat. This means that the processor chips need to be built with very large heat sinks. CMOS chips are expected to be used in the manufacturing of mobile phones and PDAs in the future, and they are currently a major bottleneck in the development of new applications. Carbon nanotubes have been tested as candidates to replace silicon, but their performance needs to be improved before they can compete with CMOS technology. Another potential application of graphene is in solar cells. As a material, graphene has a very large SSA and a high transparency. Therefore, if used in combination with CNTs, it may be possible to create solar cells that can operate at a lower temperature than current silicon-based photovoltaic cells. There are a number of other applications for graphene and carbon nanotubes that have not yet been commercially developed. Graphene has been used to create high capacity and high energy density lithium ion batteries. It's also possible to create supercapacitors using carbon nanotubes, which could be used to store power for use during a burst of electrical current, such as a car braking. The graphene potential When we speak about graphene, it's often in the context of the nanometer scale. At this scale, graphene has a strong mechanical strength and a higher conductivity than any known material. Graphene is stronger than steel, and five times stronger than diamond. It can be easily manipulated at this scale, and it's possible to modify its atomic structure. To make the most of graphene, however, the material needs to be used at the macro scale. Graphene's unique properties make it ideal for a range of applications. It has a high surface area and is highly conductive, which means that it's an ideal material for use in a wide range of applications, from semiconductors to electrical conductors. In semiconductors, graphene can be used in the production of flat-panel displays and lasers. Electrical conductors can be made from graphene-based materials, and the material can be used as sensors. If graphene is to truly replace silicon as the material of choice for silicon based products, it will need to be used in combination with other materials. At this scale, graphene is also highly flexible, which means that it can be manipulated and fabricated at very small scale. However, at this scale, graphene is expensive, and it's currently too expensive for many applications. A graphene film (Image: University of Notre Dame/Liaojin Ren) One of the most significant challenges of graphene, and why it is expensive, is its synthesis. The fabrication of large-scale graphene is not possible at this time, but this is a major opportunity for researchers. Many researchers are trying to develop new methods for the large-scale production of the material. Many of the challenges facing the production of graphene are currently being overcome in the laboratory. Large-scale production of the material is likely to be a few years away, but graphene is a materials with a lot of potential. In the meantime, graphene's unique properties make it a versatile material that can be combined with other materials and used to create a new range of innovative products. "One of the most exciting areas for graphene applications today is the creation of high performance composites," said Patrick Gallagher, a specialist in carbon nanotube research and a senior scientist within the NUIG. "You have materials like carbon fibre, or steel, or aluminum which are very strong, but they are not conductive, they cannot carry electrical current. We are trying to use the amazing conductivity of graphene to make those all conductive so that it can be used as a building material or in building." The use of graphene in these materials offers tremendous opportunity. In the US alone, the steel and metal production industry is worth $1.8tn, and the energy industry is worth $3.5tn. It's highly likely that there is significant potential in the development of graphene-based composites in both these industries. In the same way that graphene is being tested as a replacement for silicon, there is likely to be the development of graphene-based composites as replacements for the metal and glass materials we use every day. "As we explore how to combine graphene with a material like glass, we can make an incredibly strong material that is very, very light weight, which can improve the performance of buildings in many ways," said David Mote. "It can be an ideal material for a lot of different types of products, but we are just at the start of these ideas. We are a long way away from realising these things." Citation: Carbon Nanotubes, Graphene, Nanodiamonds and Nanocomposites, a report from NREL (2010) This article is posted under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 licence. If you have any queries about republishing please contact us. Please check individual images for licensing details. If your site contains articles that you want to share with readers of your site please provide a link below. MoneySupermarket.com Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The information on this site was correct at the time of entering our website. 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