Graphene - a technical overview

Today, we examine the technical details of graphene more deeply, through a helpful review article by Geim. This article makes a few references to crystal structure and effective mass:

• Crystal (AKA lattice) structure refers to the regularly repeating pattern of atoms in solid materials. Sodium chloride (NaCl, table salt), for example, has a cubic structure with Na and Cl atoms alternating at the corner and center of each cube. The shape of a lattice is often (including in Geim's article) noted using Miller indices.
• Effective mass refers to how an electron's motion is affected by its surroundings. If a single electron were on its own, its effective mass is its "normal" mass of 9.11x10^-31 kg. However, the presence of the lattice of atoms and the other electrons cause the electron to behave (i.e., respond to forces) as if it had a different mass.