In recent years, there’s been a lot of buzz around a supermaterial known as graphene. But ? Well, imagine a substance 200 times stronger than steel and yet than paper. Sound like science fiction? It’s not — it’s graphene.
Advertisement In 2004, two scientists from the University of Manchester, Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, were “playing” with graphite. Yes, the very same stuff found . Curious about this material, they wondered if they could peel it down to a single layer.
So, they reached for an unusual tool: sticky tape. “You put [sticky tape] on graphite or mica and peel the top layer,” . There are flakes of graphite that come off on your tape.
Then you fold the tape in half and stick it to the flakes on top and split them again. And you repeat this procedure 10 or 20 times. Advertisement “Each time, the flakes split into thinner and thinner flakes.
At the end you’re left with very thin flakes attached to your tape. You dissolve the tape and everything goes into solution. ” Surprisingly, the sticky-tape method worked wonders.
This playful experiment led to the discovery of single-layer graphene flakes. In 2010, Geim and Novoselov shared the for their discovery of graphene, a material made up of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice that resembles chicken wire. Advertisement The Carbon Atom Connection One of the main reasons graphene is such a marvel is because of .
A single layer of pristine graphene looks like a layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice structure. This atomic-scale honeycomb formation grants graphene its impressive strength. Electrical Properties Graphene is also an electrical superstar.
It better than any other material at room temperature. Advertisement Remember those carbon atoms we talked about? Well, each of them has an extra electron called a . This electron moves freely, allowing it to transmit electrical conductivity across the multilayer graphene with almost no resistance.
This makes graphene the . The ‘Magic Angle’ and Superconductivity Recent graphene research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) discovered something almost magical: When you rotate two graphene layers slightly (just 1. 1 degrees) out of alignment, graphene becomes a superconductor.
This means it conducts electricity with no resistance and no heat, opening up amazing possibilities for room-temperature superconductivity in the future. Advertisement Powering Up with Graphene One of the most anticipated applications of graphene lies in batteries. Given the exceptional conductivity, we could produce graphene-based batteries that charge faster and last longer than our current .
Some big names like Samsung and Huwei are already on this trail, eager to bring such advancements to our everyday gadgets. Advertisement Other Graphene Innovations Advertisement By 2024, we can expect a range of graphene products on the market, according to Andrea Ferrari, director of the , who is also the science and technology officer for the , a 1-billion-euro collaboration by the European Union to speed the development of graphene technology. Research partners with the Flagship are already making graphene batteries that outperform today’s best high-energy cells by 20 percent capacity and 15 percent energy.
Other teams have built graphene-based solar cells that are 20 percent more efficient at converting sunlight to electricity. Advertisement While there are some early products already tapping into graphene’s potential, such as sports equipment by the company Head, the best is yet to come. And as Ferrari mentions, “We say graphene, but we’re really talking about a large number of options that are being explored.
Things are moving in the right direction. ” Sports equipment manufacturer, Head, has already integrated this amazing material. Their Graphene XT tennis racket claims to be 20% lighter with the same swing weight.
Now that’s some serious game-changing tech! Advertisement.
From: howstuffworks
URL: https://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/new-inventions/graphene.htm
