UNSW Sydney engineers have developed a cheaper and greener way to make graphene from leftover peanut shells.

Researchers at UNSW have discovered a new way to make graphene, a remarkable ‘wonder material’, using just discarded peanut shells.

The development opens the door to cheaper, more sustainable electronics and energy storage devices and could help transform agricultural waste into valuable products inside phones and computers that are used every day by billions of people around the world.

"Graphene is famous for being one of the thinnest, strongest and most conductive materials known to science," says Professor Guan Yeoh, who led the team.

"It is made up of a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice, but is hundreds of times stronger than steel, conducts electricity and heat better than copper and is almost completely transparent."

...read more at unsw.edu.au