Laptops and mobile phones are growing increasingly thinner thanks to upgrades in manufacturing materials. As various types of new materials are created, our lives will gradually change.

Graphene

Graphene is an allotrope of carbon in the form of a two-dimensional, atomic-scale honeycomb lattice in which one atom forms each vertex.

Graphene is the thinnest and the strongest material. It is about 100 times stronger than the strongest steel, with a hypothetical thickness of 3.35Å—equal to the thickness of the graphene sheet. It has good flexibility and can be stretched 20 percent beyond its actual size. A hammock less than 1 millimeter in thickness made from 1 square meter of graphene can bear a 1-kilo cat.

Graphene could be a good substitute for silicon, as it could be used to produce super-micro transistors for super computers. If graphene can replace silicon, the speed of computer processors will be hundreds of times faster than their current speed.

Graphene is almost totally transparent and can absorb 2.3 percent of light. The material is so tense that even the smallest gas atom, helium, cannot penetrate it. These characteristics give graphene the potential to be the raw material that makes transparent electronic devices like transparent touch-sensitive displays, luminescent screens and solar panels.