????在科技界，每一個(gè)新產(chǎn)品或服務(wù)剛問世的時(shí)候，都讓人覺得似乎是一種可能改變世界的創(chuàng)新。但是，石墨烯（一種碳原子構(gòu)成的單層片狀結(jié)構(gòu)的新材料）或許真的能夠改變世界。

????加州大學(xué)河濱分校（University of California at Riverside）物理學(xué)教授珍妮?劉告訴《財(cái)富》雜志（Fortune）：“石墨烯是一種神奇的材料，它的導(dǎo)熱性比銅好10倍，導(dǎo)電性比硅好100倍。而且，它像塑料一樣透明，質(zhì)量也非常輕、非常結(jié)實(shí)，同時(shí)又具有良好的彈性和韌性。過去十年里，這種材料讓整個(gè)科技界為之神魂顛倒，而且它已經(jīng)成了最有希望取代硅的半導(dǎo)體材料?！?/p>

????珍妮?劉介紹稱，石墨烯現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)開始在一些領(lǐng)域投入應(yīng)用。比如她指出：“石墨烯同時(shí)具有導(dǎo)電和透明兩個(gè)特性，由于在自然界中這兩種特性很難同時(shí)出現(xiàn)在同一種材料上，因此它具有巨大的應(yīng)用前景，比如用作監(jiān)視器、顯示屏、太陽能電池和觸摸屏的透明電極等。三星（Samsung）這些在這個(gè)領(lǐng)域進(jìn)行了大量投入的企業(yè)已經(jīng)注冊(cè)了一批專利，還生產(chǎn)了原型產(chǎn)品，并且有望在幾年內(nèi)就能將有關(guān)產(chǎn)品投入市場(chǎng)。”

????珍妮?劉還指出，可穿戴電子產(chǎn)品、航空部件、寬頻光電探測(cè)器、防幅射服、傳感器和能量存儲(chǔ)等也都是石墨烯眾多熱門研究領(lǐng)域中的一部分。

????在許多研究人員和投資者看來，石墨烯的終極應(yīng)用是用來生產(chǎn)晶體管，也就是構(gòu)成當(dāng)代電子設(shè)備的基本部件。但是要達(dá)到這種程度的應(yīng)用可能還需要一些時(shí)間。

石墨之子

????石墨烯最初是2004年在實(shí)驗(yàn)室里研制出來的，它本質(zhì)上是一層碳原子構(gòu)成的單層片狀結(jié)構(gòu)的材料。由于它的厚度極其的薄，我們甚至可以把它當(dāng)成是一種二維材料。

????曼徹斯特大學(xué)（the University of Manchester）納米材料學(xué)講師亞拉文?維加亞拉哈萬指出：“一般我們把低于10層的石墨烯稱作石墨烯，超出這個(gè)厚度的就是石墨了?！?/p>

????“石墨烯”這個(gè)詞本身是也是個(gè)涵蓋性的術(shù)語。Graphene Frontiers公司CEO邁克爾?帕特森指出：“簡(jiǎn)單地說，石墨烯可以分成兩大類?！币活惤凶觥凹{米片石墨烯”，也就是用石墨制成的粉末狀或屑狀物。這種材料問世已經(jīng)有一段時(shí)間了，而且“也并不是什么超級(jí)新潮的東西?！迸撂厣榻B說：“要想讓它變得具有導(dǎo)電性，就得把它們與高分子聚合物或油墨、橡膠等物質(zhì)混合?！毙紶畹氖┮呀?jīng)逐漸成為一種商品了。

????石墨烯的另一種類型，也就是呈薄膜狀的石墨烯，才是這種材料最大的前景所在。帕特森表示，石墨烯薄膜“在電子工業(yè)有著驚人的應(yīng)用前景?！蓖瑫r(shí)他表示，從近期來看，石墨烯可能將主要應(yīng)用于對(duì)數(shù)量要求“不太大”、同時(shí)對(duì)質(zhì)量和導(dǎo)熱性要求不是特別高的領(lǐng)域，比如用于基本的觸摸屏等應(yīng)用領(lǐng)域。最早應(yīng)用石墨烯的此類產(chǎn)品可能在接下來的6到12個(gè)月內(nèi)就會(huì)面世。

????如果我們把眼光放得再遠(yuǎn)一些，石墨烯可以用作海水淡化的微孔濾膜。洛克希德馬丁公司（Lockheed-Martin）已經(jīng)有了一款名叫Perforene的專利產(chǎn)品?！八钦娴?，而且它也很有效，但是它在經(jīng)濟(jì)上仍然不是很實(shí)惠，除非等到石墨烯達(dá)到工業(yè)量產(chǎn)級(jí)別，也就是等到每平方英寸石墨烯的價(jià)格以分計(jì)算”，而不是現(xiàn)在這樣動(dòng)輒每平方英寸幾美元甚至幾十美元，帕特森解釋說?！澳蔷褪俏覀儸F(xiàn)在努力的方向。”

價(jià)格高，產(chǎn)量低

????但是要想把石墨烯用在號(hào)稱“科技界的圣杯”的半導(dǎo)體領(lǐng)域，可能還需要整整十年的努力。

????Fenwick&West公司知識(shí)產(chǎn)權(quán)法律集團(tuán)專利合伙人保羅?史密斯對(duì)《財(cái)富》表示：“石墨烯面臨的很多挑戰(zhàn)與大多數(shù)新材料沒什么區(qū)別。首先要解決的問題是怎樣合成超過實(shí)驗(yàn)室級(jí)別的石墨烯，其次是保持這種材料的期望特性，第三是把它整合到一款具體的產(chǎn)品或者技術(shù)中?！?/p>

????In the technology industry, every new product or service seems to come with the promise that it is an innovation with the potential to change the world. Graphene, a form of carbon, might actually do just that.

????"Graphene is a wonderful material," Jeanie Lau, a professor of physics at the University of California at Riverside, told Fortune. "It conducts heat 10 times better than copper and electricity 100 times better than silicon, is transparent like plastic, extremely lightweight, extremely strong, yet flexible and elastic. In the past decade, it has taken the scientific and technology communities by storm, and has become the most promising electronic material to supplement or replace silicon."

????Graphene has already found its way into a number of compelling applications, Lau said. For instance, "since it is both transparent and electrically conductive -- two attributes rarely found in the same material in nature -- it has tremendous potential as the transparent electrode in monitors, displays, solar cells, and touch screens," she explained. "Companies such as Samsung that invest heavily in this area have already secured patents, produced prototypes, and are expected to bring products to market in a few years."

????Wearable electronic devices, aviation components, broadband photodetectors, radiation-resistant coatings, sensors, and energy storage are among numerous other areas of active research, Lau said.

????For many researchers and investors, the ultimate application is graphene-based transistors, the building blocks of modern electronics. But getting there may take some time.

A child of graphite

????First produced in a lab back in 2004, graphene is essentially a single layer of pure carbon atoms bonded together in a honeycomb lattice so thin it's actually considered two-dimensional.

????"We generally regard anything less than 10 layers of graphene as graphene; otherwise, it's graphite," said Aravind Vijayaraghavan, a lecturer in nanomaterials at the University of Manchester.

????Even "graphene" is a bit of an umbrella term. "To oversimplify, there are two major types of graphene," Michael Patterson, CEO of Graphene Frontiers, said. The first: "Nanoplatelets," which are powders or flakes made from graphite. These have been around for a while and are "not really super-sexy," Patterson said. "You mix them into polymers or inks or rubbers to make them conductive." In flake form, graphene is already on its way to becoming a commodity, Patterson added.

????The other type -- in sheet or film form -- is where graphene's biggest promise lies. Graphene sheets have "incredible potential for electronics," Patterson said. In the near term, that potential may manifest in situations where the quantity requirements are "not that great" and where quality or conductivity doesn't have to be as high, such as in basic touch-screen applications, he said. Products that use graphene in this way could arrive to market in the next six to 12 months.

????Looking a little further out, graphene can be employed in membranes used for water desalination. Lockheed-Martin already has a patented product known as Perforene. "It's real and it works, but it won't be economically viable until the product reaches an industrial scale where the cost is measured in pennies per square inch" rather than dollars or tens of dollars per square inch, Patterson explained. "That's where we're working today."

'It's expensive and low-capacity'

????But use of graphene in semiconductors -- the technology's Holy Grail -- is likely a decade away.

????"Many of the challenges presented by graphene are common to most new materials," Paul Smith, a patent associate with the Intellectual Property Law Group at Fenwick & West, told Fortune. "The trick is figuring out how to synthesize graphene in a way that first is manufacturable beyond lab scale; second, preserves the desirable properties of the material; and third, can be integrated into a product or technology."