I.Synthesizing graphene in sheet form is considerably more expensive and time-consuming than producing graphene flakes.Whereas the latter typically involves a“quick and dirty”process by which bulk graphite is disassembled into millions of tiny pieces，Lau explained，large sheets of graphene are carefully“grown”on substrates(基板)such as copper，germanium，or silicon carbide.
J. Graphene sheets are also prone to defects and“very difficult to make in good quality,”Ron Mertens，owner and editor of Graphene-Info.tom，said.Production capacity is also very limited.“There are thousands of small companies that can make graphene，but it’s expensive and low-capacity,”Mertens said.alround wafer measuring one inch in diameter,for instance，costs about$1 00，he added.
K.An even thornier obstacle on the way to graphene transistors is the fact that the material has no“band gap，”an essential property that allows transistors to be turned on and off without leaking electronic charge in the“off”state，said Elias Towe，a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Carnegie Mellon University.
L.“Band-gap engineering has been and remains the biggest challenge in the development of graphene transistors and computer chips.”Lau said.It requires controlling the material almost down at the atomic level，and“that’s really pushing the edges of existing technology,”Patterson said.“In 10 years，we’11 start to see these problems solved.”
‘It is largely a matter of time’
M.If graphene is to succeed as a replacement for silicon，every unit of cost and performance will make a difference，Towe said.
N.“Silicon is hard to displace，with all the billions dollars of investments made in manufacturing infrastructure，”he said.“A replacement for silicon has to offer extraordinary performance at extremely rock-bottom cost to compel industry to change its way.”
O.Though graphene is just 10 years old—in contrast,use of silicon in transistors dates to the early 1950s—considerable progress has already been made.For example，the largest graphene sheet was produced by hand in a laboratory eight years ago;its width was less than that of a human hair.“Nowadays，roll-to-roll printing of graphene sheets up to 1 00 meters long has been achieved，”Lau said.“With the increasing interest，investment，and research in graphene-based technology,I think it is largely a matter of time before the economy of scale kicks in and truly low-cost，large-scale production ofhigh-quality graphene is accomplished，”she added.
46.Nanoplatelet is the powder-or flake-type of graphene that has been used for some time to make conductors and that is being launched on the market.