Graphene, the supermaterial
Graphene is a substance composed of pure carbon, with atoms organized in a regular hexagonal pattern, similar to graphite. It is an almost transparent material.
The first property of graphene is that it is extremely light but at the same time extremely strong: a sheet of one square meter weighs only 0.77 grams. It is transparent, flexible, waterproof, does not pollute, and is harder than diamond, 200 times stronger than steel and more flexible than carbon fiber. It is also a superconductor: 100 times faster than the silicon used in the chips.
It has countless applications: CPUs 500 times faster, photographic sensors a thousand times more sensitive to light, wearable chips of the thickness of the skin, mobiles that are rolled, screens of the thickness of a sheet of paper …
The graphene creation methods that offer the highest quality are obtained in very small quantities. As graphene is created on a large scale its quality plummets, and with it most of its advantages. Therefore, obtaining high quality graphene is very expensive.
The conventional method to obtain graphene is to connect the carbon atoms of a gas containing carbon in a vacuum, a process that costs about 167 dollars per kilogram of material obtained. New methods of producing graphene are trying to reduce cost considerably.
Top 10 graphene companies: Versarien; Haydale; First Graphene; Directa Plus; Talga; AGM; Zenyatta; Graphenea; NanoXplore; XG Sciences.
Recently, The Guardian newspaper published a reflection on this subject in which, with the help of Mark Miodownik, materials scientist Read more
Neste MY Renewable Diesel™, a low-carbon biofuel, to help our customers reduce their carbon footprint. Neste MY Renewable Diesel, produced Read more
US Quickly Seeks COVID-19 Vaccine. "Phase 1 of the clinical trial to evaluate an investigational vaccine designed for coronavirus disease Read more
The start of SpaceX spaceflights. SpaceX first launched astronauts into space on Saturday, on a mission announced by NASA leaders Read more
Ocean Panel says mining on the sea floor is dangerous. Mining on the sea floor should not begin before a Read more
Shrilk: a material as strong as aluminum that mimics the cuticle of insects. A new material that mimics the strength, Read more
'Green hydrogen' from renewables could become cheapest 'transformative fuel' within a decade. Green hydrogen, which is mainly produced by water Read more
POWERPASTE stores hydrogen in a chemical form at room temperature and atmospheric pressure to be then released on demand Hydrogen is considered by Read more
Investments in hydrogen technologies are estimated to reach € 247 billion by 2030 Hydrogen is emerging as one of the Read more
Saudi Arabia offers Europe ‘green’ hydrogen by pipeline Saudi Arabia has seen the ears of the wolf. The world's largest oil producer knows that it has Read more