Graphene and Fullerenes

This lesson covers graphene and fullerenes as required by the AQA GCSE Combined Science Trilogy specification (8464), section 4.2.2. You need to know about these newer forms of carbon, their structures, properties and potential applications.

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Graphene

What Is Graphene?

Graphene is a single layer of graphite — a sheet of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice that is just one atom thick. It was first isolated in 2004 by Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov at the University of Manchester, who won the Nobel Prize for this work in 2010.

Structure of Graphene

• Each carbon atom is covalently bonded to 3 other carbon atoms in a flat hexagonal pattern.
• This leaves one delocalised electron per carbon atom free to move across the layer.
• Graphene is essentially a 2D material — a single sheet.

Properties of Graphene