/sci/ - Science & Math

What the fuck is graphene?

>>4497562
It is in the middle of pencils.

>>4497566
reported for retard

(USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST)

Graphene is an atomic-scale honeycomb lattice made of carbon atoms that's only one atom thick. Pretty much the thinnest material possible. And it has pretty awesome properties.

>>4497548
Fucking fag.. I want to put my dick into it.

What substance was the previous graphene when it comes to usefullness?

I can't fucking wait.
Graphene Age is beginning.

I want this stuff in my ravioli.

Wait a sec.. Then why aren't the Chinese already mass producing this and making our lives so much easier?!

If it's so awesome why don't they build a perpetual motion machine out of this stuff?

>>4497571
Reported for announcing reportings
oh wait..

grapheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeenee, I don't know much about it.

>Graphene creates electricity when struck by light

>The discovery was made by a team of researchers from MIT in the US and the National Institute for Materials Science in Japan. A sheet of graphene was treated so that it had two regions with different electrical properties (a p-n junction). Then, by shining an 850nm infrared laser on the material a temperature difference between the two regions is created, and an electrical current flows. This effect is caused by a hot carrier response, where the electrons gain enough energy to move, but the underlying lattice of carbon stays cool.

>Now, this is significant because a hot carrier response has only ever been observed in materials that are reduced to (almost) absolute zero, or when an intensely powerful laser is used to heat the material. Graphene’s hot carrier response occurs at room temperature and across a wide range of frequencies, and — most importantly — it only requires a very weak source of light to trigger the effect.

>>4497607

>It should be stressed that this is just a preliminary discovery, and so it’s hard to divine what the ultimate applications might be, but we can definitely do some educated guesstimating. First, this thermoelectric effect could be used in solar panels. Current photovoltaic panels based on silicon technology are only sensitive to a fraction of the sun’s emitted wavelengths — a graphene solar panel could be cheaper to make and more efficient. In biology, this effect could be used to detect disease and toxin molecules, many of which emit a small amount of light when illuminated from an outside source.

>In astronomy and photography, graphene could be used as a highly-sensitive photodetector that works across a huge swath of the spectrum, including infrared which many sensors struggle with. The same tech could be applied to night-vision goggles for military use — and of course, in almost every case listed above, graphene would be a cheaper alternative to the current solutions.

>All this, from a material that was only isolated a few years ago! In the long run, we really don’t know the full extent of what graphene-based technologies will enable us to do; it will probably be all of the above and then some.

never heard of this material before but if all the information in op's pic is true I can't wait to see what kind of neat graphene-based toys we'll have in 10-20 years.

>I want to feel it in my anus.

Because packing what appears to be an infinite series of benzene rings into your anus is a good idea.

>>4497607
>>4497616
>"First, this thermoelectric effect could be used in solar panels. Current photovoltaic panels based on silicon technology are only sensitive to a fraction of the sun’s emitted wavelengths — a graphene solar panel could be cheaper to make and more efficient.

That sounds awesome. Cheaper AND better. Go graphene!

It all sounds good but in the end the impact of graphene will be marginal. Plus it will take at least 15 years for the industry to adapt to graphene. People tend to make new discoveries sound bigger and more awesome than they really are.

>>4497548
You guys are on it here on /sci/
I Have Quick Question...
If I was hypothesizing about potential future evolutionary paths for various animals, should I ask you guys about probabilities or /an/?

>>4497705
/sci/. /an/ is more about animal lovers sharing cute pictures of their pets.

So... why have I never heard of this graphene stuff before? Is this real or a hoax or some kind of The Onion fake news?

>>4497737
>never heard of this graphene stuff

>>4497548
Graphene is like Thorium salt reactors or Ron Paul

Only Graphene is actually as good as the reports say, while the latter two are both shit.

>>4497705
Why not both?

>>4497809
>thorium salt reactor
>shit

Why?

>>4497820
Because liquid fluoride at thousands of degrees

>>4497820

Disadvantages

Note: Many of the research and development efforts in coming decades will be aimed at fixing these problems, as such some may be solved or their effect may be lessened. New problems are also likely to arise and may or may not be dealt with.

>Little development compared to most Gen IV designs - much is unknown.
>Need to operate an on-site chemical plant to manage core mixture and remove fission products.
>Higher tritium production than other reactors due to 6LiF salts (can be prevented with the use of Li-7 enriched salts)
>Likely need for regulatory changes to deal with radically different design features.
>Corrosion may occur over many decades of reactor operation and could be problematic.

>>4497737
not sure if troll or ignorant high-school shit

>>4497832
>This guy doesn't know things
>Let's insult him

>>4497836
>tripfag

>>4497846
>This guy got bored of being impersonated/ambiguity when he posted
>Let's insult him

The Graphene Age. It's coming.

i want it in my pencil.

>petabit and exabit transmission speeds

HNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

What's a plasmonic antenna?

Nothing mentioned other materials can't do. The only benefit is that it's cheaper.

>>4497932
you serious?

Graphene will change the world. You heard it here first.

>>4497932
>graphene
>cheaper

Because there are plenty of ways to mass-produce it. Oh...

>>4497566
Can't tell if troll. That is graphite in pencils, not graphene.

>>4499157

>SAN RAFAEL, Calif., Nov. 1, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Graphene Technologies (GT) announced a significant milestone in its mission to manufacture high quality graphene at industrial scale and pricing. On October 20, the first of a series of patent applications filed by the company on its novel technology for the production of graphene and other nanomaterials was published. This application is an important part of the company's IP holdings and reflects years of scientific work aimed at commercial use of its process to synthesize high quality graphene materials.

>"We are very pleased to have completed several patent applications and to see the first of these published. This is an important step for us," said Jon Myers, GT Co-Founder and CEO. "We are singularly focused on further developing our advanced, scalable process to produce industrial quantities of single to few layer graphene materials."

>The Company has discovered and developed a novel process in which carbon dioxide is used as the primary feedstock for graphene production. The process exploits the highly exothermic reaction between certain alkaline earth metals, including magnesium, and carbon bearing gases, including carbon dioxide, to generate graphene. Graphene is a very promising nanomaterial with potential applications in semiconductors, electronics, displays, energy storage and transmission, photovoltaics, advanced plastics and structural materials.

>"The ability to make advanced materials through a combination of widely available minerals with a greenhouse gas is a significant achievement," continued Myers. "Our scientists have produced the highest quality single and multiple layer graphene available, while demonstrating the potential for achieving the lowest production cost possible for this material."

>>4497587

>Dat feel when nanotubes and graphene

Are there other uses for this?

bump for moar

>>4500002
Agreed. Bump for more! This graphene material sounds great. Tell me more!

>Hold onto your hats: Graphene, the one true savior, has now found a use in the one technological arena that needs it most: batteries. Namely, engineers at Northwestern University have found that a specially-crafted graphene electrode can allow a lithium-ion battery to store 10 times as much power and charge 10 times faster — and last longer, too.

>In state-of-the-art lithium-ion batteries there is a graphite anode, a metal oxide cathode, and an electrolyte containing a lithium salt. When discharging, lithium is forced out of the anode (+) and into the cathode (-), and during charging the reverse occurs. In essence, anode’s capability to handle and store lithium dictates the output voltage, total capacity (mAh), and charging speed. The Northwestern researchers, using graphene, have completely upended the very restrictive limitations of commonly-used anodes.

>The new anode is still made from sheets of graphene (graphite is simply millions of layers of graphene) but the researchers have punched millions of tiny (10-20nm) holes through each layer of graphene (pictured right). Instead of each lithium ion having to travel around the outer edge of each graphene layer, they can now just jump through the holes (or nanoholes, as they’re being called). Furthermore, the engineers introduced clusters of silicon between each layer of graphene; graphene on its own can only carry one lithium ion per six carbon atoms, but each silicon atom can hold four lithium ions. The combined effect is an anode that can store 10 times more power (30,000 mAh instead of 3,000) and 10 times the charging speed (15 minutes instead of two hours). If you haven’t already shuffled slightly further under your desk to hide your excitement, get this: the Northwestern battery, after 150 charge/discharge cycles, is also five times more effective than any lithium-ion battery currently on the market.

>>4500276

>As always, we have to ask the question: When will this new tech find its way into a battery near you? Northwestern doesn’t give a clear answer — it only goes on to say that the team is now working on improving the cathode and electrolyte. If we go on previous battery-related discoveries, though, and assuming this discovery can be repeated at an industrial scale, we might see week-long smartphone batteries within a couple of years.

>Suffice it to say, the flip side of this discovery is that batteries could be made 10 times smaller and yet have the same capabilities of today’s offerings. If you’ve ever seen the battery in an iPad or smartphone, you’ll understand that batteries are really the only significant hindrance in the miniaturization of gadgets. If the Northwestern battery comes to fruition, the bulky battery pouches on everything from remote controls to laptops to hearing aids would simply go away.