Abstract

Graphene is a monolayer of sp² bonded carbonatoms in a chicken wire crystal structure which behaveselectronically as a zero-gap semiconductor. It forms manyallotropes, some being known from ancient times (diamondand graphite) and some discovered ten to twenty yearsago (fullerenes, nanotubes). Quite interestingly, the twodimensionalform has been obtained only recently, andimmediately has sparkled a considerable scientific interest.Electrons in graphene, obeying to a linear dispersionrelationship, behave like massless relativistic particles, whichresults in a number of very peculiar electronic properties.Graphene also provides a bridge between condensedmatter physics and quantum electrodynamics and opensnew perspectives for carbon-based electronics. Here wepresent an overview of the amazing properties of grapheneand of the methods for producing it. We conclude with a briefdescription of the potential applications of this material.