Sam Brusco, Associate Editor03.07.17
Quick—name the allotrope of carbon that takes the form of a two-dimensional, atomic scale, hexagonal lattice in which one atom forms each vertex.
Not ringing any bells? Perhaps another hint, then. This material is widely regarded to have enormous potential in medicine, with possible applications including bone implants, non-invasive blood sugar monitoring, painless drug delivery, and MRI contrast agents that target specific tissues, among many others. Its three-dimensional form is commonly found in pencils, and it can be “manufactured” by drawing on a piece of paper and removing the writing layer by layer with a piece of scotch tape.
Figured it out yet? Why, it’s graphene, of course!
The funny thing is graphene has unintentionally been produced in small amounts for centuries, using pencils or other graphite applications. Originally spotted in electron microscopes in 1962, it was later rediscovered, isolated, and characterized in 2004. However, the discovery was also anything but intentional. One Friday, Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, two University of Manchester scientists, removed some
Not ringing any bells? Perhaps another hint, then. This material is widely regarded to have enormous potential in medicine, with possible applications including bone implants, non-invasive blood sugar monitoring, painless drug delivery, and MRI contrast agents that target specific tissues, among many others. Its three-dimensional form is commonly found in pencils, and it can be “manufactured” by drawing on a piece of paper and removing the writing layer by layer with a piece of scotch tape.
Figured it out yet? Why, it’s graphene, of course!
The funny thing is graphene has unintentionally been produced in small amounts for centuries, using pencils or other graphite applications. Originally spotted in electron microscopes in 1962, it was later rediscovered, isolated, and characterized in 2004. However, the discovery was also anything but intentional. One Friday, Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, two University of Manchester scientists, removed some
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