If you run your pencil across a piece of paper, the traces that remain—whether forming shopping list or artwork—are graphene. Researchers have managed to extract one-atom thick “sheets” of graphene using a surprisingly low-tech material: tape.
Some scholars say that this material, with honeycombed form, can be used to protect certain artworks without posing any danger to them. As with any proposed silver bullet, other experts urge caution here, both in terms of what graphene might be able to do and how realistic its promise is in the real world, as well as what risks it might pose to the artworks it is meant to protect.
I write on the subject in artnet in “Can Graphene, a One-Atom Thick ‘Wonder Material,’ Keep Precious Artworks From Fading? Scientists Say It Shows Promise.”
I know there are quite a few museum professionals, including conservators, among the readership here, so I would be very interested to hear what—if any—experience readers have with graphene, whether with art or other domains.
I remember graphene being proposed as the everything solution, from possibly bullet proof vests to compostable batteries, and had recently thought about doing a piece on where it is now. It's fascinating. I was hoping it would turn out to be the big greener solution that took off by now.