I can remember one time when I was in University and me and a few of my English Lit friends wanted to do some some kind of experiment. The details are a little bit hazy and I’m not entirely sure that what we wanted to determine was above board but the one thing I do remember is that we all agreed that the experiment could not be done because we were missing a vital piece of equipment: a lab coat. No lab coat, no science. This may seem like quite a narrow view of the scientific process but in our defence we were English students and we may or may not have been under the influence of Post-Modernism. I think many of us who aren’t in the fields of science or technology see science as some mysterious and inaccessible process that happens behind closed doors. Lab coated scientists with beakers and test tubes handling smoking and steaming liquids and producing dense and incomprehensible theorems. This isn’t always so and I think that some of the research and development behind new uses for a common substance called graphene will change the way that we look at science.
In simple terms graphene is lattice of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb pattern of hexagons that is only one atom thick. In this form the carbon atoms from a sheet that is incredibly strong, allows electrons to move quickly and with little energy loss, and has other unusual properties as well. The possible applications of this substance include lighter, faster, and more flexible electronics, composite materials, and more. While the properties of graphene are still being studied and its limits determined it is already being touted as the new “super-material” of the 21st century.
While graphene has been known about since the development of X-ray crystallography in the early 20th century it wasn’t created or utilized as a discrete substance until discovered jointly by researchers at Manchester University and Institute for Microelectronics Technology in Russia in 2004. The researchers were awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize for Physics for the discovery. The discovery itself is absolutely amazing, but what is even better is the way that the graphene was originally produced. The researchers involved used Scotch Tape to remove trace amounts of graphite from a larger graphite crystal. They then used the tape to continue transferring smaller and smaller samples of the graphite until they had samples that were only one atom layer thick: graphene. These samples could then be compared under an optical microscope in order to determine their thicknesses. So there you have it, possibly one of the greatest materials discoveries of my lifetime and all it took was some tape, a lump of pencil lead, and a microscope.
But it gets better. One of the early issues with graphene was that it was very expensive and inefficient to produce. It could also not be produced in any large quantities or in sheets of a very large size. The tape-and-go method could only produce small samples that could be used to test the properties of graphene but not enough of the material to actually do anything with. In 2012 researchers at UCLA developed a way to make larger sheets of graphene using a standard DVD burning device that could be found in any computer. The process is quick, easy, and uses relatively cheap materials. Using their process the UCLA team has developed a type of super-capacitor that they say has the potential to replace standard batteries in many applications. Graphene allows the super-capacitor to charge and discharge very quickly like a standard super-capacitor but also hold a larger charge like a battery.
Tape and DVD burners aside, even the big boys are getter in on developing uses for graphene. Lockheed Martin (yes THAT Lockheed Martin) recently announced that they have been developing a way to use graphene to improve the efficiency of water desalination plants. The method relies on the strength of graphene to allow the filters to be both ultra thin, strong, and most importantly energy efficient. Tiny holes in the membrane will allow the water to pass through the graphene while keeping the salt out. Lockheed Martin still faces challenges on making larger sheets of graphene ans well as producing the needed holes without causing tears in the material but working filters could be available in as soon as a year. The technology could provide clean drinking water to people all over the world.
There are a lot of things that I still don’t understand about graphene. A quick trip down the Wikipedia entry for graphene quickly degenerates into a bunch of graphs, equations, sine waves, and other scientific “stuff”. While this deep scientific stuff is mostly incomprehensible (at least to me) the surface information, the discovery and sense of wonder is not. These guys won a Nobel Prize for a discovery that originated from a process that all of us can understand. Discoveries like this are important because we don’t necessarily have to understand all the underpinnings of the discovery in order to feel a sense of connection to it. Discoveries like the light bulb or the electron came about under similar circumstances. They emerged from a theoretical scientific knowledge base but were confirmed and exhibited using simple materials. Today they shape the world we live in. Will a piece of tape and a lump of graphite shape the world of tomorrow?
D.
