Graphene Work Sheets For Teachers

It works:

1. Take a piece of tape about 7 cm long and fold over the two ends so you have two non-sticky holders.
2. Use the tweezers to put a flake of graphite on the sticky side of the tape.
3. Then, fold and unfold the tape between 7 and 10 times to get thinner and thinner spots of graphite.
4. There is a high chance that a small area in those spots is one-atom thick! Graphene! If you have a microscope, look at the different thicknesses of the spots!

This method led Andre Geim and Kostya Novoselov at the University of Manchester to isolate graphene in 2004 and to demonstrate its properties, experiments that earned them the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010!

It works:

1. Use the pencil to draw two thick parallel lines, 10 cm long, both starting rigth in the edge of the paper. Make the distance between lines not wider than the spread of the LED's legs. Be sure there are no broken lines.
2. Using a 9V battery, connect the cocodrile wires to the ends of the graphite lines. Close the circuit with the LED (careful, LEDs do have polarity! Long leg is positive). The light should go on!
3. Use the multimeter to measure differences in resistivity as you draw longer circuits of different forms and thicknesses. See what happens if the lines are too thin or too thick. Can you explain these differences?

1. Now draw a circuit with a gap and close it with your finger. Is the LED light on? Why is that?
2. Use the multimeter to measure the resistivity of your finger while closing the circuit.
3. Compare your results with your classmates. Are you all alike in resistivity?
4. Try to see if your results in resistivity change if you drink water, after sport? What is the reason the human body can conduct electricity?
5. Draw a more complicated circuit to simulate a touch screen. Make it in a way you need the help of your friends to close different combinations of gaps to light different LEDs.
6. You have a thin, flexible and very light circuit. Can you imagine of any application other than a touch screen using those three properties: conductor, thin, light, flexible? Try for instance rolling the paper to obtain a cone and you will have a flashlight. And remember that if instead of graphite, you had graphene, then your circuit would be transparent too!

It works:

1. Learn first what a capacitor is: two conductive parallel plates separated by a distance d. This system can store charge.
2. The capacitance of a capacitor measures its ability to store charge. Capacitance depends on the area of the plates and the distance between them.
3. Basically, and very roughly a capacitive touch screen works because one plate of the capacitor is the screen, and the other is your finger (remember you are conductive!) When you touch the screen, you change the capacitance in certain spots. Learn how to construct your own capacitive screen made of graphite following the instructions below!

1. Now draw a circuit with graphite like you did in the previous unit.
2. Follow the instructions in this unit of Instructables prepared by Alan Chatmam. You will need to program an arduino to determine changes in capacitance. The video on the right is for an advanced reader who wants to know how the arduino program works.
3. You can also use the Novalia KIT (second video on the right), that consists of an already printed conductive ink circuit based on graphite, a pre-programmed chip, and a speaker. Novalia KIT plays different sounds depending on where you touch it. You can program the system to make what they call an Audioposter.