The Graphene Carbon LatticeEnlarge Photo The latest "next big
thing" is graphene lithium-air batteries according to Talking
Points Memo, and they're currently being tested by the
Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and
Princeton University. The science of graphene Graphene was
probably one of the most significant inventions of 2011. It's
essentially a honeycomb sheet of linked carbon atoms, that's
only a single atom thick. If that's hard to picture, imagine
using a graphite pencil to draw a solid shape on a piece of
paper. That shape would be made of thousands of layers of
carbon. Peel away those layers, one by one, and eventually you'd
be left with a layer only one atom thick - that's basically what
graphene is. It's a truly 2-dimensional material. One of
carbon's physical properties is good electrical conductivity,
and this is what makes it attractive for use in batteries,
specifically as a cathode. Typical lithium-ion batteries, common
in many electric cars as well as phones, lapto