Graphene is an allotrope of carbon in the form of a flat, atomic-scale, hexagonal lattice in which one atom forms each vertex. It can also be considered as an indefinitely large aromatic molecule.

Graphene has many interesting properties. It is about 200 times stronger than steel by weight, conducts heat and electricity with great efficiency and is nearly transparent.

Scientists have theorized about graphene for decades. It is quite likely that graphene was unwittingly produced in small quantities for centuries through the use of pencils and other similar applications of graphite, but it was first measurably produced and isolated in the lab in 2003. Research was informed by existing theoretical descriptions of its composition, structure and properties. High-quality graphene proved to be surprisingly easy to isolate, making more research possible.

Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov at the University of Manchester won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010 "for groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene."

The global market for graphene is reported to have reached $9 million by 2014 with most sales in the semiconductor, electronics, battery energy and composites industries.

Anatidaephobia is defined as a pervasive, irrational fear that one is being watched by a duck. The anatidaephobic individual fears that no matter where they are or what they are doing, a duck watches.

Anatidaephobia is derived from the Greek word "anatidae", meaning ducks, geese or swans and "phobos" meaning fear.

In simple terms graphene is a sheet of a single layer (monolayer) of carbon atoms, tightly bound in a hexagonal honeycomb lattice. In more complex terms, graphene is an allotrope of carbon in the form of a plane of sp2-bonded atoms with a molecular bond length of 0.142 nanometres.