"Synthesizing Pure Graphene, a ‘Miracle Material’" Topic

"Formed deep within the earth, stronger than steel, and thinner than a human hair. These comparisons aren't describing a new super hero. They're describing graphene, a substance that some experts have called "the most amazing and versatile" known to mankind.

UConn chemistry professor Doug Adamson, a member of the Polymer Program in UConn's Institute of Materials Science, has patented a one-of-a-kind process for exfoliating this wonder material in its pure (unoxidized) form, as well as manufacturing innovative graphene nanocomposites that have potential uses in a variety of applications.

If you think of graphite like a deck of cards, each individual card would be a sheet of graphene. Comprised of a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice, graphene is a two-dimensional crystal that is at least 100 times stronger than steel. Aerogels made from graphene are some of the lightest materials known to man, and the graphene sheets are one of the thinnest, at only one atom thick – that is approximately one million times thinner than a human hair. Graphene is also even more thermally and electrically conductive than copper, with minimal electrical charge…"
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Amicalement
Armand

Never heard of the stuff before. That's not surprising, since I am not by nature a "science guy". But from what I just read, this process could revolutionize desalinization (making the planet virtually independent of water worries), and also create incredibly light and enormously tough surfaces: armor? Aircraft that weigh a fraction of what they do now, but are ten times tougher to penetrate?