A method to manufacture dream material "graphene" with a mixer appeared, light to the birth of a future type device

ByFisheye.at

Dream material with 100 times the electrical conductivity of silicon and 100 times the strength of iron with an amazing thinness of only a single carbon atom thicknessGraphene"Not only as a semiconductor material but also filter high performance batteries and seawaterFilter mediumIt is expected to be applied to various fields such as. We can make such dream material graphene at low cost easilyPut graphite in a mixer and stir it"Was invented and attracted much attention.

Scalable production of large quantities of defect-free few-layer graphene by shear exfoliation in liquids: Nature Materials: Nature Publishing Group
http://www.nature.com/nmat/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nmat3944.html

How to make graphene in a kitchen blender: Nature News Blog
http://blogs.nature.com/news/2014/04/how-to-make-graphene-in-a-kitchen-blender.html

Bend it, charge it, dunk it: Graphene, the material of tomorrow | NDTV Gadgets
http://gadgets.ndtv.com/science/news/bend-it-charge-it-dunk-it-graphene-the-material-of-tomorrow-508364

Graphene has a structure in which carbon atoms are covalently bonded like a honeycomb and spreads in a plane, and the one in which graphene is laminated is graphite (graphite), and existence itself has been known for a long time, and it is about as long as studied by high school chemistry Things with a very simple structure. Briefly, the stack of 30 million graphene is the pencil lead with a length of 1 cm.


Although the structure itself is simple, since carbon never takes the structure of graphene in its natural state, attempts to artificially break up graphite into one layer have been repeated for centuries but can not be synthesized did. But in 2004André GyimWith doctorKonstantin NovoselovSince Dr. Succeeded to remove graphene by sticking adhesive tape to graphite and gently peeling off (Scotch tape method), research of graphene will progress all at once in the world. Due to the achievement of graphene production by this adhesive tape experiment, Dr. Dr. both received the Nobel Prize in physics award in 2010.

The state of taking out graphene by the Scotch tape method is from the following movie.

Making Graphene 101, Ozyilmaz 'Group - YouTube


Since graphene has a thickness of only carbon atoms, it is "the thinnest material in the world", and at the same time, it has a strength of 100 times or more than that of iron because the bond between carbons is extremely strong, furthermore it has an extremely high electron conductivity and is used as a semiconductor material Is also promising and it is pointed out that it can be applied to demonstration experiments of physical phenomena that can be explained only by quantum physics, and it is expected to be applied to various fields, research of graphene is pandemic all over the world.

However, although it is a very excellent material graphene, besides the Scotch tape methodCVDBy etc.Success in synthesizing grapheneHowever, a method for synthesizing graphene at low cost and in large quantities has not yet been established, and in order to further promote the research of graphene and put it down to a practical level, the development of "technology that can be mass-produced at low cost" It can be called a challenge that can not be avoided.

Meanwhile, research teams from Ireland and the UK have mixed solutions of 20 to 50 g of graphite powder and 10 to 25 ml of surfactantSucceeded to produce graphene pieces in solution by stirring with a 400 W mixer for 10 to 30 minutesAfter that,Presented at Nature MaterialsDid. The graphene piece extracted from the solution using an electron microscope or a centrifugal separator maintained that it maintained a defect-free honeycomb structure.


According to the research team, although the quality of graphene itself is still lower than that produced by the Scotch tape method, it seems that it succeeded in generating graphene using large and small mixers, which is a graphene researcher Dr. Andrea Ferrari of Cambridge University highly appreciates the results as a method that has the potential to increase graphene production efficiency several hundred times. Dr. Coleman, who conducted the experiment, said, "By studying graphite, solution, stirring speed, etc., we believe we can produce even more high-quality graphene in large quantities."

Products that can be realized using graphene include super high performance batteries for smartphones that can be fully charged in 15 minutes and can be used for more than one week, thin displays like paper, high performance semiconductors for wearable devices that can be folded, Ultra high performance filter which can filter sea water into pure water, DNA base sequence analysis filter, extremely thin condom not noticed that you are wearing it has no enumeration.

For that reason, development of a method that can mass-produce graphene at low cost is required, but graphene is made into a tubular "carbon nanotube"As you know that it has superior properties but a low cost mass production method is not established, there are many" dream materials "that have not reached a break yet. I am hoping for future research whether mass production of graphene will be realized by the "Mixer method" discovered this time.