Brief history of graphene

The term graphene first appeared in 1987 to describe single sheets of graphite as one of the constituents of graphite intercalation compounds (GICs). Larger graphene molecules or sheets (so that they can be considered as true isolated 2D crystals) cannot be grown even in principle. In the 1930s, Landau and Peierls (and Mermin, later) showed thermodynamics prevented 2-d crystals in free state, a n article in Physics Today reads:

"Fundamental forces place seemingly insurmountable barriers in the way of creating [2D crystals] ... Nascent 2D crystallites try to minimize their surface energy and inevitably morph into one of the rich variety of stable 3D structures that occur in soot. But there is a way around the problem. Interactions with 3D structures stabilize 2D crystals during growth. So one can make 2D crystals sandwiched between or placed on top of the atomic planes of a bulk crystal. In that respect, graphene already exists within graphite ... One can then hope to fool Nature and extract single-atom-thick crystallites at a low enough temperature that they remain in the quenched state prescribed by the original higher-temperature 3D growth.”

In 2004: Andre Geim and Kostya Novoselov at Manchester University managed to extract single-atom-thick crystallites ( graphene ) from bulk graphite: Pulled out graphene layers from graphite and transferred them onto thin silicon dioxide on a silicon wafer in a process sometimes called micromechanical cleavage or, simply, the Scotch tape technique. Since 2004, an explosion in the investigation of graphene in term of synthesis, characterization, properties as well as specifical potential application were reported.