Laser-induced graphene points to sustainable electronics

Despite being just one atom thick, graphene is stronger than steel, lighter than aluminum, and a superb conductor of both heat and electricity.Research suggests that graphene, a two-dimensional honeycomb lattice of carbon, can boost the performance and efficiency of solar cells, computer chips, and myriad other electronics.Even so, its applications to date are somewhat niche-it's used as an additive for concrete and consumer products like tennis rackets.One company in China sells solar panels coated with graphene.So why hasn't a material with so much promise been adopted more widely?Because making two-dimensional graphene, typically through a process called vapor deposition, isn't fast, cheap, or sustainable.Production techniques that lead to extraordinary performance benefits are too labor-and money-intensive to be practical, even though costs have fallen since graphene's 2004 discovery.Another way to make graphene, using lasers, is now garnering attention and gaining traction.The discovery of this easy-to-make graphene ignited efforts around the world to figure out the best ways to produce and use the new stuff, with much of that effort focused on using renewable, natural materials.Laser-induced graphene isn't perfect.Compared to deposition-made graphene, it "typically has a lower quality and purity," explains Yingying Zhang, a materials scientist at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, whose lab develops materials for flexible and wearable electronics.In addition, she says, "the laser conversion This scanning electron microscope image shows a composite of laser-induced graphene (LIG) and polystyrene.LIG has shown promise as a cheaper, easier way to make the widely touted material.