Graphene, a material composed of a single layer of carbon atoms, has interested scientists for some time.  It has very interesting mechanical, quantum and electrical properties.  It also has interesting implications for physics and materials science.  It has even been compared to materials found in the collapsed stars and the big bang.  It has interesting implications for electronics and computers.  However, it is also very difficult to make in large quantities and it wasn’t until 2004 that it was produced in a lab.  Basically you need to take a block of graphite and separate individual, atom-thick layers.  Professor Andre Geim of the University of Manchester and colleagues produced it in 2004 by etching a graphite sheet and sticking Scotch Tape to it.  When the tape was pulled off some layers of graphite came with it.  Through repitition they were able to get down to individual sheets.

Rodney Ruoff and colleagues at Northwestern University have now created something related and interesting, graphene oxide paper.  After oxidizing a block of graphite they dropped it into water.  The oxgyen molecules in the graphite oxide repelled the water molecules with enough force to separate individual graphene oxide layers.  When they filtered this “exfoliated” mixture through a membrane the pieces of graphene oxide wove together to form a material about the thickness of a sheet of paper but very strong.  It is supposed to be stronger than paper made from carbon nanotubes and possibly stronger than anything other than diamonds.  They say graphene oxide paper is very flexible and can be folded or wrinkled.  They also say that by changing the oxygen content they should be able to convert it from an electrical insulator to a conductor.