Large Scale Graphene
Graphene is a one-atom thick monolayer of carbon atoms packed into a two-dimensional honeycomb lattice. According to science theories 70 years ago, 2D materials could not exist because of their thermodynamically instability. However in 2004, a group of scientists from the University of Manchester made what seem impossible a reality. By simply sticking bits of debris left over after splitting graphite by brute force on plastic adhesive tape and folding the tape many times, these scientists obtained thinner and thinner versions of graphene. Thanks to this discovery graphene led to a deluge of international research interest3-5. It is important to know that graphene in its natural state is said to be intrinsic (or pure) and when impurities are added to its natural form is said to be extrinsic (or doped). One of the most important characteristics of graphene’s electrical properties is its electron mobility, a measure of how well a material conducts electricity. According to physics from the University Of Maryland, graphene can reach a carrier mobility of up to 200, 000 cm2/V-1s-1 at room temperature6. As opposed to intrinsic silicon with a carrier mobility of 1500 cm2/V-1s-1, we can see that graphene is not only better but it overpasses silicon’s carrier mobility by 133 times11. It is clear that graphene can be a good candidate to replace silicon in the electronics industry. For example, Intel Corporation now sells chips with 32nm size transistors and even six cores on a single microprocessor with a value of $1000. In other words, consumers are paying high amounts of money to buy a tiny piece of silicon. It is obvious that a new materials need to be found to continue the trend of smaller, faster, and cheaper microprocessors12. As for graphene’s thermal properties, its thermal conductivity stands out with a potential of (4.84±0.44) ×103 to (5.30±0.48) ×103 W/m−1K−1 as shown by researchers from the University of California Riverside7. To have a good thermal conductivity