Graphene: The Nano-sized Material With A Massive Future

[Glenwing]

The big companies are the ones that need to investing in this technology then :) Intel has the right idea, they've said already this is the last decade of silicon transistors, they and IBM are very interested in this; I think at least for electronics we will see Graphene starting to make an appearance by the end of the decade or next.

 

As always the manufacturing processes are not there yet; graphene based products will come at a higher price initially, and slowly displace what we have now.  Not a sudden revolution that will oust companies invested in today's standard technologies.

[Hyydrah]

 

Supercapacitors: They'll enable you to charge your cell phone in 5 seconds, or an electric car in about a minute. They're cheap, biodegradable, never wear out and as Trace'll tell you, could be powering your life sooner than you'd think.

Love DNews.

[Hyydrah]

Single layer of graphite is called graphene just write something with a pencil on a paper stick a tape on it and remove it and you have got graphene, yeah its that simple.

 

That's an extremely inefficient method of extracting the substance.

[Glenwing]

That's an extremely inefficient method of extracting the substance.

That's how it was discovered and how you can get some "at home" but that's not the commercial way of creating the substance :)

 

http://www.technologyreview.com/view/417303/physicists-discover-how-to-grow-graphene/

[Ahmed dz]

 

We gotta get Linus to talk about it on the stream :p 

[Raj8396]

That's an extremely inefficient method of extracting the substance.

I know but it could still be done that way, Mass production will require another method but it would be cheap because its not that hard to separate graphene as they have very weak bond.

[Hyydrah]

I know but it could still be done that way, Mass production will require another method but it would be cheap because its not that hard to separate graphene as they have very weak bond.

Could be, but it won't. They would find a method involving machines, most likely 3D printers or the like.

[Nademagnet]

Graphene also has the potential to generate electricity, not just store it.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Piezoelectric-Graphene-Developed-at-Stanford-University-262731.shtml

Imagine not even requiring to plug in your device to charge it. Through your everyday interaction with your device (Touching the screen, any vibrations, possibly including thermal kinetics) a Piezoelectric Graphene unit could be self sustaining. Cool stuff.

[TechMonkey]

I've made some research about the graphene by myself and current researches about it and beside all that what has been mentioned here, there is a research going to use the graphene as a fast data condctor - source:

 

Graphene could deliver Internet speeds upto a hundred times faster

 

It's quite clear that in a few decades we can expect graphene beeing as widely used as a steel is today with a market worth billions

[Glenwing]

I've made some research about the graphene by myself and current researches about it and beside all that what has been mentioned here, there is a research going to use the graphene as a fast data condctor - source:

 

Graphene could deliver Internet speeds upto a hundred times faster

 

It's quite clear that in a few decades we can expect graphene beeing as widely used as a steel is today with a market worth billions

 

Not really, Graphene is not a viable structural material by itself.  It is a good puncture/scratch protecting reinforcement layer but since it is only 1 atom thick it is both transparent and flexible.  So you won't see strips of graphene replacing steel I-beams.

 

Graphene could see some use in display covers, since is is highly scratch resistant and has very low reflection compared to glass.  Combined with a piece of glass or shatter-resistant plastic as well as the zero-glare coating from Nippon Electric Glass shown at CES, graphene could protect the coating from wearing off as well as protect the glass piece from scratches, and since it is electrically conductive it could additionally act as a capacitive touch sensor.  So like I said it has plenty of potential for use as a reinforcing layer.  But since it is flexible you won't see it being used as casing or macroscopic structural elements all by itself.

 

Its electrical and thermal properties are the most exciting thing about it.  If anything, it will be most famous for replacing Silicon.

[kuddlesworth9419]

Scientists keep on going on about graphene but still haven't really done anything interesting with it. Why don't they come back to use when they have constructed an entire CPU that gives us 8X the performance we get today because then I will be happy. Same thing with quantum tunneling, its useless talking about the benefits until we can actually see them in action. Theory is only theory at the end of the day.

[Glenwing]

kuddlesworth9419, on 28 Jul 2013 - 11:43 AM, said:

Scientists keep on going on about graphene but still haven't really done anything interesting with it. Why don't they come back to use when they have constructed an entire CPU that gives us 8X the performance we get today because then I will be happy. Same thing with quantum tunneling, its useless talking about the benefits until we can actually see them in action. Theory is only theory at the end of the day.

If you were an engineer you would know it is not quite as simple as just making an entire CPU... The manufacturing processes don't exactly exist yet. And making a CPU that is CMOS compatible is only very recently possible.

As for actually using it, IBM created a 150GHz transistor with it a few years go. Graphene has already been used in speakers which turned out well, and in Lithium-Sulfur batteries which also turned out well. If you mean when will someone release a product using it on the consumer market? It will be a long time, as it is with any new material or technology. I mean look how long it takes for Kingston just to roll out black PCB memory. And that's with stuff that's not only easy, but already invented and in mass production. Mass production facilities for synthesizing graphene don't exist yet so you won't see any products on the market for a long time.