Graphene

Experiments carried out by a group of physicists at Columbia University, showed that graphene is the hardest material known to science today. Its findings, scientists have published in the journal Science.

Graphene - a carbon film thickness in a single atom, was obtained in 2004 by Andre Geim from Manchester University. Graphene can be imagined as a two-dimensional "slice" of the crystal of the hexagonal lattice of graphite.

Physics, Columbia University studied the mechanical properties of graphene. In their experiments, they used particles of graphene with a diameter of 10 to 20 micrometers. The scientists placed the particles on the crystal plate, with holes from one to fifteen microns. Scientists have "crushed" by loose particles of graphene, located above the holes, using a diamond tip of an atomic force microscope and evaluated how much they are deformed.

The researchers found that, before graphene particles begin to fail, they can force in down about 100 nanometers with a force of about 2.9 micronewtons. According to scientists' calculations, this corresponds to tensile strength of 55 newtons per meter. If physicists were able to get a layer of graphene the thickness of a conventional plastic wrap (about 100 nanometers), then it would have to make the gap by about 20 thousand Newtons. If we take into account that the weight of the body - is the force with which it presses on a support, then to divide a hypothetical graphene films would require a body weighing about two tons.

In addition to the unusual strength of graphene has a whole series of unique characteristics. In particular, the highest among known materials the electron mobility make it a likely candidate for the "material number one" in nanoelectronics.