Graphene

Graphene is an allotrope of carbon first isolated in Manchester in 2004. The carbon atoms are arranged in a honeycomb configuration, forming a sheet just a single atom thick with superlative electrical conductivity and mechanical strength. Many flakes of graphene are stacked together in the material graphite. Graphene is light weight, with a single square-metre sheet weighing less than a milligram. Graphene is typically produced and supplied in two broad forms, either as a bulk powder or a thin film. All available grades of graphene shown are bulk powder grades: GNPs, MLG, FLG, GO, rGO

Of the listed bulk powder grades these are subdivided into graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) which are typically of more than 10 layers, multilayer graphene (MLG) which is 2-10 layers thick, few layer graphene (FLG) which is 2-5 layers. Graphene Oxides (GO) are compounds of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen in variable ratios formed by strongly oxidizing graphite. Dispersing the material in basic solutions results in Graphene Oxide flakes, which is also an intermediary stage for large scale production of graphene where the graphene oxide is reduced to from reduced graphene oxide (rGO) through a variety of processes at a relatively low cost. rGO is never pristine as there are always residual oxygen groups left on the surface, although this can aid dispersion and downstream compatibility.