graphene
Science
Supermaterial Graphene Could Become Fireproof Megastorage Solution
6:30PM Elaine Chow | Already known as the world’s strongest material and a great solution for shrinking transistors, now researchers say it can also be used to make super-tough, super-small storage. More »
Science
Amazing Hydrogen Fuel Tank Being Made Of Buckyballs And Graphene
10:14PM Kit Eaton | We’ve talked a lot about hydrogen and fuel cells here on Giz, mainly because it’s the wonder fuel of the near future, but storing dangerous H2 is tricky: something a team at the University of Crete thinks it’s solved. The US Department of Energy reckons a tank should store 6% H2 by mass, and current tech can only do about 2%. The Greek team’s tank is amazing: it’s constructed of two wondermaterials. Carbon Buckytubes connect layers of graphene to make a huge matrix—so far they’ve built a tank with Buckyballs instead of tubes, but they’ll have that finished by Christmas. And theoretically it can store 6.1% H2. [NewScientist] More »
Science
Graphene Could Become World’s Best Super Battery
3:30PM Gizmodo US Edition | You know graphene, the super material that’s strong enough to withstand diamond cutters? Turns out that not only may it replace silicon as the de rigeur component of microchips, it’s on track to becoming the next megabattery as well. Engineers at the University of Texas in Austin have found a way to store electrical charge in graphene-based ultracapacitor devices, and their discovery could revolutionise the renewable energy industry. More »
Science
TEAM 0.5 Microsope Takes Closest Look Ever at Graphene, the World’s Strongest Known Material
7:40AM Sean Fallon | Graphene is getting a lot of publicity these days. It is being hailed as the future of the electronics industry—the material that will eventually replace silicon. It has also recently been confirmed as the world’s strongest known material. Now, researchers at the Berkeley Lab have thrust graphene into the spotlight once again thanks to the TEAM 0.5: the world’s most powerful transmission electron microscope. It has produced the first “stunning” images of graphene’s individual carbon atoms. More »
Science
Scientists Make World’s Smallest Balloon, For Microscopic Birthday Parties
7:41PM Kit Eaton | Graphene looks like it’s going to be one of the “wonder materials” of the future, and a science team at Cornell University has just demonstrated the world’s smallest balloon made of it. They stuck sheets of graphene over microscopic wells (1 to 100 square micrometers) cut into silica glass, trapping gas inside. By varying the pressure in the wells, they could make the graphene bulge inwards or outwards like a balloon, and the membranes proved pretty resilient: They could withstand several atmospheres of pressure. Though, like real birthday party balloons, the gas leaked out after a few days, it apparently did so through the glass, not the graphene. These tiny air pockets may have future uses as micro-sized weighing scales or even precise pressure sensors: It’s another case of an invention waiting to find a use. [New Scientist]
Gadgets
Graphene Confirmed as the World’s Strongest Known Material
6:10AM Sean Fallon | The scientific community has been praising graphene as some sort of miracle material for years now–even going so far as to say that it could eventually replace silicon. Well, graphene can now add another statistic to its impressive resume now that researchers have confirmed it as the strongest material ever tested. More »
Science
