Graphene is shaping nation's high-tech dreams

China is now the global leader in patents and publications related to carbon nanotubes and graphene research and manufacturing, accounting for about 47 percent of the total patents, the National Physical Laboratory in the United Kingdom said on Wednesday.

But experts warned that an oversupply in lower-grade graphene may occur in the near future as a result of aggressive capacity expansion in the country.

Carbon nanotubes are tubular cylinders of carbon atoms that have extraordinary mechanical, electrical, thermal, optical and chemical properties. Graphene is the thinnest and strongest substance known to mankind and is a carbon derivative.