Early on, researchers were not shy about promising graphene breakthroughs, with predictions that it would enable superthin rollable TVs and space elevators, and even supplant silicon in computer chips. “Expectations were very, very high,” Geim says. “The companies I was involved in were mostly based on hype.”

For all its allure, graphene had drawbacks, not least that it is difficult to incorporate into mass-produced devices without sacrificing its much-vaunted properties. Many companies came and went, taking their futuristic graphene dreams with them. Graphene supply has long outstripped demand, and major manufacturing companies still haven’t leapt into graphene production, says Conor O’Brien, a technology analyst at IDTechEx, a U.K. market research consultancy that tracks the graphene industry.

Yet today, some graphene businesses seem to finally be finding their footing. That’s partly because the name “graphene” is now applied to a plethora of other substances—cheaper forms of carbon stacked in multiple atomic layers or decorated with various chemical appendages. These heterodox forms of graphene can now be found not only in consumer electronics, but also in concrete, pickup trucks, and brain devices. “Graphene is now hundreds, maybe even a thousand different things,” says Peter Bøggild, a graphene researcher at the Technical University of Denmark.