Coincidentally, news out today of some impressive research results on using graphene in li-ion batteries:
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2011/05/chang-20110521.html
Is graphene a miracle material?
31–40 of 53 posts
Re: Is graphene a miracle material?
#32I have an encyclopedia from the 1950's at home with a page entitled "Asbestos - the new wonder material".
I was thinking similarly. Based on past history, I expect them to rush to find all sorts of short-term profitable applications for it, build new products around it, and not really look at things like negative health or environmental consequences. There just isn't as much money to be made by finding reasons not to use it as there is in finding reasons to use it.
Re: Is graphene a miracle material?
#33I have an encyclopedia from the 1950's at home with a page entitled "Asbestos - the new wonder material".
I was thinking similarly. Based on past history, I expect them to rush to find all sorts of short-term profitable applications for it, build new products around it, and not really look at things like negative health or environmental consequences. There just isn't as much money to be made by finding reasons not to use it as there is in finding reasons to use it.
well, it is basically graphite, just with more consistent microstructure. I'm having a hard time thinking of ways in which it could be worse than graphite in terms of health or environmental concerns.
Re: Is graphene a miracle material?
#34I want clothing embedded with sheets of Graphene. Imagine the protection! I ride a motorcycle, which is one of the most dangerous daily activities one can do, and something that exhibits these properties could save me a lot of pain in wearing armored gear etc. There are also a range of applications in the military and security industries.
Isn't most of motorcycle safety designed to a) make sure no part of you catches the ground and b) spread out the energy as much as possible (spatially and temporally)? Cause I don't think just sheets of graphene would be very good at dealing with energy dissipation. You might not be able to break the graphene sheets, but the energy would just transfer through to your body.
If the sheet of graphene can't be pierced, it would protect from the most common mild injury in motorcycle accidents: road rash. (Right?) It'd prevent direct contact with the road, it'd prevent your clothing being ripped off and your skin being turned into ground meat.
Not that I really know what I'm talking about, but that was my line of thinking…
Re: Is graphene a miracle material?
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was thinking similarly. Based on past history, I expect them to rush to find all sorts of short-term profitable applications for it, build new products around it, and not really look at things like negative health or environmental consequences. There just isn't as much money to be made by finding reasons not to use it as there is in finding reasons to use it.
well, it is basically graphite, just with more consistent microstructure. I'm having a hard time thinking of ways in which it could be worse than graphite in terms of health or environmental concerns.
I could probably cite some examples of molecules where with a certain molecular structure/combination it's harmless, then you add just one more Hydrogen or Nitrogen, or whatever, and it becomes an acid.
Also consider water aka H2O. Have a sip of it and your mouth feels better. Have several cups and you're refreshed and body replenished for the day. Have 50 gallons go down your pipes and you are dead. Same molecule, phase, and microstructure. But water is extremely old and long studied and literally falling out of the sky for millions of years while humans on the planet. Not so, graphene.
Believe me, I think it's cool and sexy and do hope it enables all kinds of breakthroughs, I do. I'm just skeptical about whether it won't unleash horrible health problems down the road, due to incompetent and/or corrupt testing/approval bureaucracy, especially in the USA.
Re: Is graphene a miracle material?
#36I want clothing embedded with sheets of Graphene. Imagine the protection! I ride a motorcycle, which is one of the most dangerous daily activities one can do, and something that exhibits these properties could save me a lot of pain in wearing armored gear etc. There are also a range of applications in the military and security industries.
Graphene wouldn't provide any shock absorption. For that, try looking at something like d3o: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VDeJ7rLUYU
OMG, how did I not know about this! D3o might be the coolest thing I've learnt about today, I totally want d3o riding gear now.
Re: Is graphene a miracle material?
#37I want clothing embedded with sheets of Graphene. Imagine the protection! I ride a motorcycle, which is one of the most dangerous daily activities one can do, and something that exhibits these properties could save me a lot of pain in wearing armored gear etc. There are also a range of applications in the military and security industries.
Isn't most of motorcycle safety designed to a) make sure no part of you catches the ground and b) spread out the energy as much as possible (spatially and temporally)? Cause I don't think just sheets of graphene would be very good at dealing with energy dissipation. You might not be able to break the graphene sheets, but the energy would just transfer through to your body.
I think GP might be thinking of a third major concern of motorcycle gear, which is abrasion resistance so that when you are sliding, the asphalt doesn't sandpaper your flesh to the bone (road rash). Pedestrian jeans/jackets disappear in less than 0.5 seconds when you are sliding on asphalt after a 60mph crash; most crashes at that speed have you tumbling on the ground for a good 6 seconds. That means unless you are wearing good gear, your skin is likely to be scraped off to the bone. I don't know much about graphene, but it might be a good material for abrasion resistance, if it is suited for withstanding tearing, cuts, and shear forces like the elephant-on-pencil example in the article claims.
Re: Is graphene a miracle material?
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was thinking similarly. Based on past history, I expect them to rush to find all sorts of short-term profitable applications for it, build new products around it, and not really look at things like negative health or environmental consequences. There just isn't as much money to be made by finding reasons not to use it as there is in finding reasons to use it.
well, it is basically graphite, just with more consistent microstructure. I'm having a hard time thinking of ways in which it could be worse than graphite in terms of health or environmental concerns.
Although it is not exactly proven, one can assume that asbestos' toxicity is related not to it's chemical properties but to physical geometry of particles of asbestos dust which seem similar to dust that you would get from carbon nanotubes. On the other hand, there is quite significant question whether this actually is problem (even in asbestos case) given right uses and technologies.
Re: Is graphene a miracle material?
#39I have an encyclopedia from the 1950's at home with a page entitled "Asbestos - the new wonder material".
Wikipedia agrees with your implicit warning. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_nanotubes#Toxicity. What can those more knowledgeable say? It would be irresponsible and foolish to push on ahead, ignoring history, if the health concerns that have been raised are merited.
My reading is that the material is toxic only in certain configurations. More than less? In this case just as much research should be done to find optimal parameters rather than just rushing ahead with blind greed.
Re: Is graphene a miracle material?
#40If IBM can make a 150 GHz graphene transistor, why does Dr Phaedon Avouris, of IBM, say that it cannot replace silicon? Isn't clock frequency a measure of the transistor's ability to turn on and off quickly?
Hz isn't the only important parameter of a transistor; amplification factor (or what's it called) is another, and IIRC graphene transistor didn't really perform in this area.
Not to mention size. How big is this graphene transistor? How densely can you pack 'em? How much energy does it use? And so forth.
I've worked in the field of nanoscale electronic stuff, and I don't believe anything will replace silicon for a long time; at least not until we've completely run out of ways to do things better with silicon.
It's silicon that's the true miracle material -- it's versatile and cheap and amazingly easy to build stuff out of. We've been talking about replacing silicon for a while, but we keep coming back to it. It's all about silicon for the next couple of decades at least.