New wonder material, one-atom thick, has scientists abuzz

[bearack]

Pardon if this has been posted. I did a quick search and found it strange not to be here so I thought I would post it.

If there is a thread, Mod's can delete this one.

This stuff is amazing and could change everything about everything.

New wonder material, one-atom thick, has scientists abuzz

WASHINGTON — Imagine a carbon sheet that's only one atom thick but is stronger than diamond and conducts electricity 100 times faster than the silicon in computer chips.

That's graphene, the latest wonder material coming out of science laboratories around the world. It's creating tremendous buzz among physicists, chemists and electronic engineers.

"It is the thinnest known material in the universe, and the strongest ever measured," Andre Geim , a physicist at the University of Manchester, England , wrote in the June 19 issue of the journal Science.

 

[docm]

It was posted about in the old forum tech section which is now part if LiveScience some time ago, but worth repeating here. Graphene is one of those emerging techs that could change literally EVERYTHING....perhaps as much as the microprocessor did.

 

[bearack]

It was posted about in the old forum tech section which is now part if LiveScience some time ago, but worth repeating here. Graphene is one of those emerging techs that could change literally EVERYTHING....perhaps as much as the microprocessor did.

I was trying to fathom the applications, but they are endless. Imagine just the implications for the aircraft business....

 

[webtaz99]

Has anyone demonstrated a free-standing graphene sheet i.e. not sitting on a substrate?

 

[docm]

I believe so since they've tested its breaking strength: 200 time that of steel. The strongest material ever tested. That said many of the more interesting applications, which includes a whole new generation of electronic devices, would involve a substrate or several layers of graphene itself.

 

[tampaDreamer]

Seems amazing to me that this is not being discussed in terms of construction. Is it too difficult to mass-produce for those purposes? Imagine a rocket made of graphene..

 

[docm]

Cost/benefit ratio: aluminum does the job, is relatively easy to fabricate and is cheap.

Another issue is that graphene tech is still embryonic - lots of work to do for the material science guys.

 

[dryson]

Just think of the implications of using this material in starhips. Lighter more durable material that would increase the amount of stress able to be placed on the hull thus increasing the lifetime of the ship itself.

 

[docm]

This just in.....

Measurement is core to understanding graphene according to researcher

Graphene is one of the materials that is the subject of considerable research and has the potential to be used in a variety of applications. One of the major applications of the material could be in computer CPUs.

Researchers say that the properties of graphene could allow the construction of computer processors that run at 1000GHz frequencies. The material also has potential applications in sensing instruments, chemical sensors, and other biosensors thanks to its low capacitance, which makes a very low signal to noise ratio.

Researcher N.J. Tao from the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University says that graphene is comprised of a two-dimensional honeycomb structure of carbon atoms and is very strong and versatile. According to Tao, graphene is roughly 200 times stronger than steel and is very light. A sheet of graphene one atom thick and large enough to cover an entire football field would weigh under a gram.

The excitement about graphene isn’t about its strength of lightweight nature, but about its unusual electronic properties. The Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University explains that graphene has a unique and outstanding ability to allow electricity to flow through its material with little impedance.

Tao has been able to measure the quantum capacitance of graphene, which he stresses is an essential part of understanding of graphene and its use in microprocessors and other applications. The quantum capacitance of a material is the result of the Pauli exclusion principal that states two fermions can't occupy the same location at the same time. That means that when one quantum state inside graphene is filled, fermions are forced to occupy successively higher energy states.

Tao explains the process, "it’s just like in a building, where people are forced to go to the second floor once the first level is occupied."

Tao's study placed two electrodes on to a graphene structure and voltage was applied across the materials two-dimensional surface with a third gate electrode. The ability of graphene to store charge according to the laws of quantum capacitance were directly measured and did not conform to predictions of the behavior of graphene.

One possible future use for graphene in biosensor applications involves putting antibodies onto the surface of graphene to study the interaction of the antibodies with specific antigens. The sensor would be able to detect individual binding events given a suitable sample. The material could also be used in the future as an ultracapacitor to store massive amounts of energy form solar or wind power plants.

Tao said, "You can imagine an atomic sheet, cut into different shapes to create different device properties."

 

[neilsox]

I picture all sorts of materials with three coats of paint. the middle coat being graphene. Adds significant strength, but almost no added weight. Neil

 

[LogicianSolutions]

For those looking to make armor or physical protective coatings there is a few things you need to learn.
1 How can it be layered? While "200x the strength of steel sounds strong, steel just 1 atom thick isn't strong at all.

2 What's the context of it being as hard as diamonds? I think it'd be highly unlikely anything a atom thick would have the strength of a regular diamond. i.e. I can't bend a diamond, however I do believe if one had a 1 atom thick sheet of this stuff, it would be bendable although one would risk the worlds worst "paper cut". A effective 2 dimensional object has by definition a edge perfect for some type of cutting.

From what little I've seen this stuff is mainly for electronics. Until they work out some ways to bind it in hundreds of layers, the chance for it being used as hulls to ships/air craft or anything else like those.