CONCLUSION

Graphene has an interesting history, but many now wonder about its future. The subject of considerable scholarly debate, it does seem reasonable to assert a few things looking ahead:

First, the quality and availability of “synthetic” graphene will continue to improve. Whether high quality material comes in the form of an alternative chemical route to the complete exfoliation of graphite or from optimization of the thermal processes required for substrate-based methods, there is no sign that synthetic techniques are nearing their upper limit. This means that device engineers will have ample access to improved materials for developing novel structures and finding ways to integrate graphene into present-day electronic devices.

Second, chemical modification of graphene's basal plane or its edges will substantially influence graphene -based devices. For electronic applications, one can imagine the attachment of functional groups aimed at self-assembly of simple circuits or the incorporation of chemical dopants to limit leakage current under zero gate bias. For sensors, lock and-key type binding sites could provide selective sensitivity to a wide variety of analytes. These might include chemical warfare agents or even biological species.

Third, industrial use of graphene as a transparent conductor could have huge implications for the solar industry. As synthetic routes improve, the prospect of replacing ITO with a low-cost carbon-based coating seems feasible. This would not only remove significant uncertainty about the availability and cost of indium but also enable non evaporative roll-to roll processing of transparent conductors.