Graphene -- essential in nanotechnology -- is created when graphite is reduced to a one-atom-thick sheet. It is among the strongest materials known and has an attractive array of benefits, the scientists said.

UCLA researchers from the California NanoSystems Institute, led by Professors Yang Yang and Richard Kaner, have developed a method of placing graphite oxide paper into a solution of pure hydrazine, a chemical compound of nitrogen and hydrogen, which reduces the graphite oxide paper into single-layer graphene.

Although similar methods have been previously studied, the researchers said their new technology is the first reported instance of using hydrazine as the solvent.

The study that included doctoral students Vincent Tung and Matthew Allen is reported online in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

"We have discovered a route toward solution processing of large-scale graphene sheets," Tung said. "These breakthroughs represent the future of graphene nanoelectronic research."