--- title: Graphene Is the 'Mircale Material' That Will Change Everything description: It's called graphene — and you've probably used it before canonical: https://time.com/3964302/miracle-material-graphene-graphite/ author: Ainissa Ramirez article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-20T14:24:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:29:17.167Z article:section: Science og:title: This is the 'Miracle Material' That Will Change Everything og:description: It's called graphene - and you've probably used it before og:url: https://time.com/3964302/miracle-material-graphene-graphite/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2d1d3f0a87e2e3e2/69885b8ecd684803c90a0dfb/gettyimages-136649520.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4896 og:image:height: 2754 og:image:alt: The Progression From Graphite To Graphene og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This is the 'Miracle Material' That Will Change Everything twitter:description: It's called graphene - and you've probably used it before twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2d1d3f0a87e2e3e2/69885b8ecd684803c90a0dfb/gettyimages-136649520.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Is the 'Miracle Material' That Will Change Everything > Sponsored content. 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Future Proof is TIME's weekly climate and energy newsletter, written by senior correspondent Justin Worland. It connects the energy transition to the decisions reshaping business, technology, policy and markets. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-futureproof-2026q3/newsletters?i=fffd26d6-b1e8-461a-af82-8ee8bcc146f6&cr=time-nl-futureproof-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The "Miracle Material" That Will Change Everything [Watch (HLS stream): The "Miracle Material" That Will Change Everything](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/HMBU5T2d.m3u8) (1:27)  _Published 2015-06-25. It's called graphene, and you've used it before._ by [Ainissa Ramirez](https://time.com/author/ainissa-ramirez/) and [TIME Video](https://time.com/author/time-video/) Jul 20, 2015 2:24 PM UTC by [Ainissa Ramirez](https://time.com/author/ainissa-ramirez/) and [TIME Video](https://time.com/author/time-video/) Jul 20, 2015 2:24 PM UTC The material that’s at end of your pencil could rewrite the way our technology works. That material is graphene and it makes up _graphite_, which you’ll find at the top of your pencil. It has the potential to make technology stronger, better, and faster. Watch materials scientist Ainissa Ramirez explains how graphene could change everything in the video above. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] There's a really new material that's out there, it's call graphene. Now, that sounds really weird. But it's actually a material that we're pretty familiar with because it's housed right here at the end of your pencil. Pencil, the end of your pencil has a material that's called graphite and graphine is one layer of graphite. Now if I were to look at a microscope of what graphine looks like, it looks like this, sort of like a fishing net. Now scientists are really excited about this because it's super strong, in fact it's one of the strongest materials that we know. If I were to push down on this with the weight of an elephant. And this was let's say, as thick as Saran Wrap. This would not break. So that means that we're going to change the way we make a whole bunch of things to make them much more reliable like helmets, car doors and the like. Scientists are also excited about this material because it's one layer. And so electrons or electricity moving across will move Super, super fast! And so, if we put this into computers and cell phones, this means that they'll be about 100 times faster. So, really exciting stuff. And more recently, scientists have figured out how to use this material, graphene, as a filament in light bulbs. It's much more efficient than LEDs, and so we'll be able to get much more bang for our buck by using is in these materials. So you see, the material that's at the end of your pencil is actually going to rewrite a whole bunch of technologies and make them stronger, better, and faster. Just you wait. 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