Graphene is one of the most revolutionary discoveries of our time, it's a wonder material that is the thinnest compound that is known to man. It's only one atom thick, and it's about 300 times stronger than steel, even though it is the lightest material known to man and it's transparent. It is a great conductor of heat and electricity, among its other properties. This material has quickly grown in popularity over the last few years and we are now seeing the introduction of graphene into a number of market products.

Graphene has also been confirmed as the world's strongest known material.

And now graphene has made its way to bike tyres and the amazing material is helping to save time for sports athletes. Vittoria, an Italian bicycle company, has gone ahead with incorporating graphene into its high-performance bicycle tyres. They say that because of the incorporation, it allows the bikes to move faster, that they last longer, they offer a better grip, and there is also more puncture protection.

They say the graphene makes the tyres up to 32 seconds faster than the competitors.

For professional cyclists, where every second counts and makes the difference between placing or not, this should sound like a very appealing alternative. It's expected that sales for these bikes, with the graphene tyres, will at least double in the next few years.

Currently there are a number of companies and others who are heavily invested into the graphene research space and there are only about 35 suppliers of graphene worldwide at the moment.

Hundreds of millions of dollars has already gone into research in this space and those investments are only expected to increase. The applications for this material are potentially limitless and it's offering a lot of excitement in the market, as far as what capabilities this material has and how it might be able to improve and change our standard of living.

The cost of producing graphene has decreased by about 90 percent in the last 3 years.

Graphite mining stocks have also been booming this year, because more people are learning about this promising material and looking to get invested in the space that many expect to grow exponentially. We could see this technology used in a number of areas: phones, cars, bikes, health equipment, planes, televisions, and plenty more.

Pics:
Pixabay
Behance
Vittoria.com
labiciclettaproshop.com
Sources:
http://gizmodo.com/5988977/9-incredible-uses-for-graphene
https://www.ft.com/content/89988182-9070-11e6-8df8-d3778b55a923
https://www.vittoria.com/
https://www.vittoria.com/tires/road-tire/