Graphene - Future of nanotechnology? (200x stronger than steel and flexible)

Graphene
is an allotrope of carbon, whose structure is one-atom-thick planar sheets of sp2-bonded carbon atoms that are densely packed in a honeycomb crystal lattice.
The carbon-carbon bond length in graphene is about 0.142 nanometers. Graphene sheets stack to form graphite with an interplanar spacing of 0.335nm, which means that a stack of threemillion sheets would be only one millimeter thick.

In 2008, graphene produced by exfoliation was one of the most expensive materials on Earth, with a sample that can be placed at the cross section of a human
hair costing more than $1,000 as of April 2008 (about $100,000,000/cm2).
Since then, exfoliation procedures have been scaled up, and now companies sell graphene in large quantities.
On the other hand, the price of epitaxial graphene on SiC is dominated by the substrate price, which is approximately $100/cm2 as of 2009. Even cheaper
graphene has been produced by transfer from nickel by Korean researchers, with wafer sizes up to 30 inches (760mm) reported.

In 2011 the Institute of Electronic Materials Technology and Department of Physics, Warsaw University announced a joint development of acquisition technology of large pieces of graphene with the best quality so far.
In April the same year, Polish scientists with support from the Polish Ministry of Economy began the procedure for granting a patent to their discovery around the world.
- Source Wikipedia. (and news)


and Now... Imagine that
NOKIA MORPH CONCPET FUTURE PHONE
youtube video... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zto6aTZM9t0
(made in nanotechnology)


And many many more... like much better and more powerful computers :D

From what I can gather it's just a single layer of graphite which is an extremely fragile and brittle substance (you know it best as the lead in pencils). I guess in a single sheet it would be stronger, but I can't believe it's that rare considering we essentially mass produce the stuff every day. I can only imagine that there must be some difficulty in cutting off only a single sheet of graphite.gameguy6700

I see people have no interest in this topics... ;)

Now you can make your own Captain America shield!

That's pretty cool. I love hearing about new advances in science and technology, especially in a field that'll know doubt affect all our lives one day.

I hardly know enough about the field to really say that I'm excited for it or my visions on how it can impact system upgrades. I'm actually more interested in how well it will take a bullet and how many bullets before it's virtually mist.

That's pretty cool. I love hearing about new advances in science and technology, especially in a field that'll know doubt affect all our lives one day.

Cactus_Matt

[QUOTE="Cactus_Matt"]

That's pretty cool. I love hearing about new advances in science and technology, especially in a field that'll know doubt affect all our lives one day.

V4LENT1NE

Screw soldiers having them, I want one of those suits!

if its flexible like hair its meh. but i'm willing to see that single strand of material against a bullet :P

I remember reading an article from BBC about this a couple weeks ago. As I recall I thought that a recent breakthrough in the U.S. (although maybe it was poland...) would make the largescale manufacture of graphene a possibility. The reason it was so expensive earlier was that it was incredibly difficult to produce in large quantities, but this new method involving dry ice and burning magnesium was much more efficient. Also I was given to understand that people are most excited about graphene's possibilities as a base for a new generation of chips, since it is extremely strong, light and thin.

Also I was given to understand that people are most excited about graphene's possibilities as a base for a new generation of chips, since it is extremely strong, light and thin.Martel100

[QUOTE="Martel100"]Also I was given to understand that people are most excited about graphene's possibilities as a base for a new generation of chips, since it is extremely strong, light and thin.Hexagon_777

I remember reading an article from BBC about this a couple weeks ago. As I recall I thought that a recent breakthrough in the U.S. (although maybe it was poland...) would make the largescale manufacture of graphene a possibility. The reason it was so expensive earlier was that it was incredibly difficult to produce in large quantities, but this new method involving dry ice and burning magnesium was much more efficient. Also I was given to understand that people are most excited about graphene's possibilities as a base for a new generation of chips, since it is extremely strong, light and thin.

Martel100

I wonder what the cost is. Probably very high.BranKetra

It is kinda old news. The newer tech is more interesting, like artificial DNA virus and the Wolverine like regeneration process that gave the test mouse a new organ.

Still old, it is last year.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/nov/28/scientists-reverse-ageing-mice-humans?CMP=twt_iph

magicalclick

[QUOTE="magicalclick"]

It is kinda old news. The newer tech is more interesting, like artificial DNA virus and the Wolverine like regeneration process that gave the test mouse a new organ.

Still old, it is last year.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/nov/28/scientists-reverse-ageing-mice-humans?CMP=twt_iph

Acemaster27

From what I can gather it's just a single layer of graphite which is an extremely fragile and brittle substance (you know it best as the lead in pencils). I guess in a single sheet it would be stronger, but I can't believe it's that rare considering we essentially mass produce the stuff every day. I can only imagine that there must be some difficulty in cutting off only a single sheet of graphite.gameguy6700

[QUOTE="BranKetra"]I wonder what the cost is. Probably very high.Matthew-first

[QUOTE="Acemaster27"][QUOTE="magicalclick"]

It is kinda old news. The newer tech is more interesting, like artificial DNA virus and the Wolverine like regeneration process that gave the test mouse a new organ.

Still old, it is last year.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/nov/28/scientists-reverse-ageing-mice-humans?CMP=twt_iph

Matthew-first

Sadly, no... mass production of these things is ALWAYS just around the corner, every decade after decade. So far attempts at methods such as molecular seeding and CVD of graphene fail, and peeling layers of carbon one at a time is too expensive for mass production.

"Stronger than steel", "flexible"? Stronger in what way? Ductility? Tensile strength? Obviously, it's not stronger than steel in all these ways or it couldn't be flexible. Vague claim is vague :(xaos

[QUOTE="Matthew-first"]

[QUOTE="Acemaster27"] Old news? If we figured out how to mass produce it this stuff would revolutionize technology and industry. And more exciting that graphene is the tube that graphene can be rolled into: Carbon Nanotubes. Wikiepdia link. The most exciting thing about nanotubes is that if we could make enough of them we could make an elevator to the final frontier, space.Frame_Dragger

Sadly, no... mass production of these things is ALWAYS just around the corner, every decade after decade. So far attempts at methods such as molecular seeding and CVD of graphene fail, and peeling layers of carbon one at a time is too expensive for mass production.

True, but I give us a 75% chance to mass produce CNTs and graphene within the next 50 years. Which means that easy space travel* is likely only ~50 years away, and that is a very exciting thought (even if our generation is a little late to really enjoy it).

*By easy space travel I don't mean that everyone will get to travel in space easily, but rather that we will be able to send massive probes into the solar system relatively easily, and we would definitely be able to establish small bases on the moon and mars.

"Stronger than steel", "flexible"? Stronger in what way? Ductility? Tensile strength? Obviously, it's not stronger than steel in all these ways or it couldn't be flexible. Vague claim is vague :(xaos

[QUOTE="Frame_Dragger"]

[QUOTE="Matthew-first"]

I think we are just a few steps to mass production.... Graphene is available everywhere.
And if they are already patenting this... so maybe just a few more years? 2-3 ?

Acemaster27

Sadly, no... mass production of these things is ALWAYS just around the corner, every decade after decade. So far attempts at methods such as molecular seeding and CVD of graphene fail, and peeling layers of carbon one at a time is too expensive for mass production.

True, but I give us a 75% chance to mass produce CNTs and graphene within the next 50 years. Which means that easy space travel* is likely only ~50 years away, and that is a very exciting thought (even if our generation is a little late to really enjoy it).

*By easy space travel I don't mean that everyone will get to travel in space easily, but rather that we will be able to send massive probes into the solar system relatively easily, and we would definitely be able to establish small bases on the moon and mars.

I give this a 100% chance of not being grounded in anything, but your own personal hopes and aspirations, which you assign virtually random numerical values.