What is Graphene?

Summary

Graphite’s atomic structure looks like a lot of hexagon sheets one on top of the other. If you remove one of those sheets, you get a single layer of graphite, which is called grapheme. In principle, it is hexagons surrounded by hexagons. However, there is an edge where the bonding isn’t satisfied. So if you take one hexagon ring, and put hydrogen on the end of each of the atoms, you end up with C6H6, which is benzene. As these sheets get bigger, you will have proportionately less hydrocarbon.

If you put three million sheets of grapheme, one on top of the other, it would make a graphite crystal only one millimeter thick. Graphene is the best electrical conductor in the world, because it is a two-dimensional, rather than a three-dimensional, material.