The Graphene Revolution: The weird science of the ultra-thin

In 2003, Russian physicists Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov found a way to produce graphene - the thinnest substance in the world - by using sticky tape to separate an atom-thick layer from a block of graphite.


Their efforts would win the 2010 Nobel Prize for Physics, and now the applications of graphene and other 'two-dimensional' substances form a worldwide industry.

Graphene is far stronger than steel, a far better conductor than any metal, and able to act as a molecular sieve to pur...