South Korean researchers have developed technology to mass produce graphene, which is known as the new, eco-friendly dream material.

The researchers from Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology are led by Professor Baek Jong-beom.

Graphene is an allotrope of carbon and is exfoliated directly from graphite. It has high electricity conductivity and therefore has bright prospects in making display panels or semiconductors.

But its commercial prospects are restricted as corrosive oxidizing agents are used in producing graphene and very little of it can be produced.

In an experiment, the team pulverized dry ice with graphite at a high speed and discovered that thin sheets of graphene separated from the graphite.

The finding is published in the U.S. journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.