Graphene, the new won der material to come out of science laboratories, is only one atom thick but is stronger than diamond and conducts electricity 100 times faster than the silicon in computer chips. It is creating tremendous buzz among physicists and electronic engineers.

“It is the thinnest known material in the universe, and the strongest ever measured,”
Andre Geim , a physicist at the University of Manchester, England , wrote in journal Science.
“A few grams could cover a football field,” said Rod Ruoff , a graphene researcher at the University of Texas, Austin , in an email. A gram is about 1/30th of an ounce.

Like diamond, graphene is pure carbon. It forms a six-sided mesh of atoms that, through an electron microscope, looks like a honeycomb or piece of chicken wire.
Despite its strength, it’s as flexible as plastic wrap and can be bent, folded or rolled up like a scroll.

Graphite, the lead in a pencil, is made of stacks of graphene layers.
Although each individual layer is tough, the bonds between them are weak, so they slip off easily and leave a dark mark when you write. Potential graphene applications include touch screens, solar cells, energy storage devices, mobiles and, eventually, highspeed computer chips.
Replacing silicon, the basic electronic material in computer chips, however, “is a long way off . . . far beyond the horizon”, said Geim, who first discovered how to produce graphene five years ago.

“In the near and medium term, it’s going to be extremely difficult for graphene to displace silicon as the main material in computer electronics,” said Tomas Palacios , a graphene researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology . - AGENCIES