Scientists have outlined how they managed to make
the "wonder material" graphene using a kitchen blender.
- Graphene is a form of carbon that exists as a sheet, one atom thick
- Atoms are arranged into a two-dimensional honeycomb structure
- Discovery of graphene announced in 2004 by the journal Science
- About 100 times stronger than steel; conducts electricity better than copper
- Touted as possible replacement for silicon in electronics
- About 1% of graphene mixed into plastics could make them conductive
Graphene is thin, strong, flexible and electrically
conductive, and has the potential to transform electronics as well as other
technologies.
An Irish-UK team poured graphite powder (used in
pencil leads) into a blender, then added water and dishwashing liquid, mixing
at high speed.
Because of its potential uses in industry, a number
of researchers have been searching for ways to make defect-free graphene in
large amounts.
The material comprises a one-atom-thick sheet of
carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb structure. Graphite - mixed with clay to
produce the lead in pencils - is effectively made up of many layers of graphene
stacked on top of one another.
Jonathan Coleman from Trinity College Dublin and
colleagues tested out a variety of laboratory mixers as well as kitchen
blenders as potential tools for manufacturing the wonder material.
They showed that the shearing force generated by a
rapidly rotating tool in solution was sufficiently intense to separate the
layers of graphene that make up graphite flakes without damaging their
two-dimensional structure.
However, it's not advisable to try this at home. The
precise amount of dishwashing fluid that's required is dependent on a number of
different factors and the black solution containing graphene would need to be
separated afterwards.
But the researchers said their work "provides a
significant step" towards deploying graphene in a variety of commercial
applications.
The scientists have been working with UK-based firm
Thomas Swan to scale up the process, with the aim of building a pilot plant
that could produce a kilo of graphene per day by the end of the year.
In addition to its potential uses in electronics,
graphene might have applications in water treatment, oil spill clean-up and
even in the production of thinner condoms.
In 2010, Manchester University researchers Andre
Geim and Konstantin Novoselov shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for their
discovery of graphene. They published details of their advance in the academic
journal Science in 2004.
They used sticky tape to peel off the layers of
graphene from graphite.
Graphene can currently be grown atom-by-atom via a
process called chemical vapour deposition. However, while this can produce
metre-scale sheets of graphene, they also contain defects which can inhibit
their properties.
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