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A scientific accident that could change the world

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Re: A scientific accident that could change the world

#81

Post by nl »

ratsbane wrote: post #7

Am I the only one to think "hey, I could try this at home?" 1) prepare carbon slurry 2) pour on dvd 3) etch with LightScribe DVD drive... 4) Peel of graphene layer ...? I wonder what, exactly, goes into the carbon slurry and if it's necessary to etch a particular pattern with the LightScribe.

You don't even need the DVD burner - you can use sticky tape[1] (to make graphene anyway). That is actually how it was discovered[2], and that was worth a Nobel prize.

[1] http://www.scientificamerican.com/slideshow.cfm?id=diy-graph...

[2] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/the-graphene-story...

Re: A scientific accident that could change the world

#82

Post by rcamera »

whitewhim wrote: post #52
ratsbane wrote: post #7

Am I the only one to think "hey, I could try this at home?" 1) prepare carbon slurry 2) pour on dvd 3) etch with LightScribe DVD drive... 4) Peel of graphene layer ...? I wonder what, exactly, goes into the carbon slurry and if it's necessary to etch a particular pattern with the LightScribe.

After reading several papers on this I think that the hardest issue would depositing the GO and electrolytic layers on a CD substrate. Although there are some fairly reliable and not terribly difficult methods I doubt many would have the materials at home. I would love to try this but I'm a poor student. I may see if I can locate some GO onthe chem labs this summer when no ones around.

Their paper [1] show that it is actually quite simple, glue a PET layer to the CD, then deposit graphite oxide solution and let it dry overnight, to then put it in the lightscribe drive. They also explain how the supercapacitor is built with the electrolyte and how to make the electrolyte yourself, the hardest part from what I've read is actually getting graphite oxide.

[1] http://www.sciencemag.org/content/335/6074/1326.abstract

Re: A scientific accident that could change the world

#83

Post by nl »

TylerE wrote: post #78
whitewhim wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After reading several papers on this I think that the hardest issue would depositing the GO and electrolytic layers on a CD substrate. Although there are some fairly reliable and not terribly difficult methods I doubt many would have the materials at home. I would love to try this but I'm a poor student. I may see if I can locate some GO onthe chem labs this summer when no ones around.

It's graphene, especially tiny bits of it, a bit of a biohazard also? (Think asbestos)

I've never heard of any health risks. People seem to handle graphite pencils ok (OTOH, coal dust isn't exactly the best thing in the world for you, but it is hardly asbestos)

Re: A scientific accident that could change the world

#84

Post by rcamera »

firefoxman1 wrote: post #8
ratsbane wrote: post #7

Am I the only one to think "hey, I could try this at home?" 1) prepare carbon slurry 2) pour on dvd 3) etch with LightScribe DVD drive... 4) Peel of graphene layer ...? I wonder what, exactly, goes into the carbon slurry and if it's necessary to etch a particular pattern with the LightScribe.

I'm right there with you. I've been looking around to see more details on the process. Besides getting ahold of the materials, i think the most difficult part would be taking a graphene sheet and actually making it a supercapacitor. I think it requires layering it between some sort of electrolyte sheets right?

The supercapacitor they created is planar, you don't need to layer multiple sheets, you just need to print it then deposit the gel-like electrolyte and put it together with some copper tape and klapton tape. It's written/explained in their paper: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/335/6074/1326.abstract

Re: A scientific accident that could change the world

#85

Post by solistice »

ratsbane wrote: post #9
firefoxman1 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm right there with you. I've been looking around to see more details on the process. Besides getting ahold of the materials, i think the most difficult part would be taking a graphene sheet and actually making it a supercapacitor. I think it requires layering it between some sort of electrolyte sheets right?

Yes, sounds right. Quoting from the paper cited above "Thus, a device can be readily made by sandwiching an ion porous separator [Celgard 3501 (Celgard, Charlotte, NC)] between two identical LSG electrodes."

But the gel seperator they used was the standard industrial seperator gel for sCaps...there was a video on this, but it's too late tonight, i'll look for it tomorrow.

Re: A scientific accident that could change the world

#87

Post by rcamera »

nl wrote: post #81
ratsbane wrote: post #7

Am I the only one to think "hey, I could try this at home?" 1) prepare carbon slurry 2) pour on dvd 3) etch with LightScribe DVD drive... 4) Peel of graphene layer ...? I wonder what, exactly, goes into the carbon slurry and if it's necessary to etch a particular pattern with the LightScribe.

You don't even need the DVD burner - you can use sticky tape[1] (to make graphene anyway). That is actually how it was discovered[2], and that was worth a Nobel prize. [1] http://www.scientificamerican.com/slideshow.cfm?id=diy-graph... [2] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/the-graphene-story...

You have no control of the layer thickness through this process, and their supercapacitor design actually uses the graphite oxide that isn't turned into graphite as an insulator between the graphene sheets (their supercapacitor is planar, it does not use multiple layers). So no, while you can get graphene from a pencil and sticky tape, that's useless for this application.

Re: A scientific accident that could change the world

#88

Post by frozenport »

Fargren wrote: post #2

Well, the graphene seems easy enough to manufacture. What are the obstacles to start using this technology right now? What is still missing?

Electrons don't like graphene, its like trying to stick electrons onto a hunk of wood - which also has a large capacitance. The real story isn't that graphene has magical properties, its that graphene can be tuned and engineered.

Re: A scientific accident that could change the world

#89

Post by jodrellblank »

mbell wrote: post #60
derekp7 wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe the charger could also have a super capacitor in it, and would charge it up over time. Then when you hook up your device, you would be getting capacitor to capacitor charging. After all, if these things can charge up fast, then they can also discharge fast.

That would work, but you'd need to use about 0 gauge wire between the devices. If you tried that with something the size of a lightning cable you'd have a decent chance of vaporizing the wire/connectors.

So now all we need is this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CERN-cables-p1030764.jpg

Re: A scientific accident that could change the world

#90

Post by homeomorphic »

claudius wrote: post #20
buster wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a big miscalculation: Graphene seems to be extremely light weight. 1 liter of graphene will definitely not weight 1kg. Wikipedia [1] only gives measures for m²: Graphene is very light, weighing only about 0.77 milligrams per square meter. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphene

Graphene is also very thin. If you created a box of graphene, it would naturally have about the same weight as diamond or coal (plus or minus 100%, maybe, but certainly not orders of magnitude less).

Probably not minus 100% :-)
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