Graphene

It would take an elephant balanced on the tip of a pencil to break through a sheet of graphene the thickness cling film. That's the description those promoting this new wonder material like to use to illustrate the strength of graphene.
The atomic material was isolated by two scientists at Manchester University in 2004. Now, just over a decade and one Nobel prize later, Peter Day visits the newly opened the National Graphene Institute. Its aim is to bring business and science together, to develop potential future uses for graphene. Will this strategy succeed where Britain's past attempts to spin out scientific discoveries have not?

Producer: Sandra Kanthal.

(Image credit: The University of Manchester)