What Graphene Is Going To Change

chances are you've heard of super computers super stores and even super foods but graphene seems like it'll one-up all of these by being one of the first true super materials first developed in 2004 and netting its inventors andre game and constantine novosilov a nobel prize in 2010 this material is notable for not only being super thin at only one atom thick but also super strong conductive flexible transparent and impermeable to most gases and liquids yet despite all these amazing properties graphene remains relatively unknown to the average person so today we're going to give you the low down on this magnificent material on this episode of super freaky science [Music] if you want to stay posted on all of our latest content don't forget to subscribe now first and foremost what exactly is graphene well on a basic level it's a single thin layer of graphite yet one of the main differences between both graphite and graphene is that the latter is only one atom thick so it's actually two dimensional rather than three dimensional and it has a crystal lattice structure that is quite similar to chicken wire this allows the carbon that makes up graphene to covalently bond with its fellow carbons giving the material a strength that at about 130 gigapascals is about a hundred times stronger than steel in addition to this graphene's atoms actively delocalize electrons allowing for graphene to be one of the most conductive materials ever observed so while graphene is extremely strong and conductive it's also notable for being super lightweight flexible transparent and near impermeable clearly this is by far one of the most incredible man-made materials out there yet while many would think that this would mean that graphene must have been extremely hard to create this was actually anything but the truth that's because andre game and constantine novoselov of the university of manchester first found the material not by using fancy equipment or powerful machines but by using scotch tape that's right what the two discovered was that by applying scotch tape to regular graphite they could peel back layer after layer until they were left with one single atom sample this material is precisely what came to be known as graphene and although many scientific journals outrightly rejected the findings at first due to them being so bizarre by 2010 the two men had earned a nobel prize as a result of their efforts unsurprisingly all of the research behind graphene and all of the studies giving praise to it prove one major thing that it truly is a super material however if graphene truly is something that is the potential to change the world then the question remains as to why we haven't seen more of it after all if you go to a store today chances are that few if any of the products inside of it would contain the super material at all but of course with all things the primary reason behind graphene's lack of use is not due to its lack of functionality or lack of availability but rather the cost now if you just think about it when it comes to many of the things that you buy today the materials that they are made of are used because they work and be it the silicon semiconductors used in your computer or the steel used in your bicycle it goes without saying that they do their job well now if you were to replace them with graphene it's likely that they will do even better however their relative or marginal benefit will more than likely not offset the cost for example as of now graphene costs about a hundred dollars per gram and so as a result while it may be the best material to make something like a silicon semiconductor if it only performs about fifty percent more efficiently it won't be worth replacing it since silicon by comparison costs less than one cent per gram so as it turns out at its current price point graphene could only be economically viable if it vastly outperforms the conventional counterpart and unfortunately as for now no items have seemed to fit the bill however this doesn't mean that graphene will forever be hopelessly expensive you see graphene really still is in its infancy regarding its development and until very recently scientists really didn't have a viable way to mass produce high quality graphene on an industrial scale but in 2019 researchers from rmit university in australia and india's national institute of technology waranga reported that they may have found a solution to this problem that's because instead of using conventional chemical reduction which is toxic expensive and environmentally unfriendly they chose to synthesize graphite using a eucalyptic bark extract in particular they used a eucalyptic polyphenol solution to trigger the reduction of exfoliated graphene oxide to soluble grafting under reflux conditions in an aqueous medium which then led to the removal of the oxygen functionalities of graphene oxide okay that was a lot let's put that more simply what the researchers essentially did was mix a eucalyptus solution with graphite in order to make graphene with the team finding that when tested in a super capacitor the newer and more environmentally green graphene produced match the quality and performance of traditionally produced graphene without having any toxic emissions and while the exact details of how this is being done are still under wraps what we do know is that it's not only far more environmentally sustainable but much more cost effective after all with the research team believing that their new eucalyptus plant process could cut down the cost of graphing from a hundred dollars per gram to just 50 cents it really could mark a new beginning in graphene's expansion now of course we would be remiss if we didn't go a little bit further into depth into some of graphene's most exciting potential uses in particular the ones that we see the most potential in are the creation of solar panels phone components and large-scale water filtration systems as of now solar panels seem to be one of the first ways in which graphene can be implemented you see solar panels work by using silicon which produces a charge when a photon hits the materials knocking loose a free electron from said silicon and while this is successful in creating energy silicon only releases one electron per photon that hits it however research has shown that graphene can release multiple electrons for each photon that hits it as a result so long as graphene cells could be made more affordable they will likely be able to make solar cells a much more efficient and viable option for many graphene's potential can also be seen via the creation of phone components in particular the material seems to have great potential in three distinct areas the battery the screen and the semiconductor regarding the battery one of the front runners is a company by the name of real graphene that's because by creating a battery that makes the lithium solution with graphene and introducing a composite layer of graphene they were able to formulate it so that it could charge your phone in 20 minutes instead of the conventional 90. it would also last significantly longer than a regular lithium battery and generate less heat interestingly enough this same graphene material can likely be used to make high quality phone screens that's because if placed within plastic a graphene component could make them more lightweight flexible and more importantly shatter proof so you'd be kissing that shattered screen goodbye yet most incredibly of all it seems that graphene could be used to make exceptionally efficient semiconductors the u.s department of energy conducted tests that demonstrated that semiconductive polymers conduct electricity much faster when placed atop a layer of graphene than a layer of silicon even if the polymer is thicker in fact they've found that a polymer 50 nanometers thick when placed on top of a graphene layer conducted a charge better than a 10 nanometer layer of the same polymer this completely went against previous wisdom which held that the thinner a polymer is the better it can conduct charge as a result as long as researchers can find a way to give graphene a band gap so that it can switch between insulating or conducting an electric current it has the potential to make an extremely high quality component the final yet equally as innovative use for graphene is its potential as a water filter you see as of now graphene is near impermeable as seemingly every material can't pass its fibers with one exception water this is because water can evaporate through graphene while most other gases and liquids can't so graphene could be immensely helpful in purifying water of toxins for example in a study published by the royal society of chemistry researchers found that oxidized graphene had the ability to purify water contaminated with uranium and plutonium leaving the liquid free of contaminants and being able to filter these contaminants would have massive implications on our world's water crisis that's because these elements are often the primary component in nuclear waste and chemical runoff so even though graphene hasn't changed the world yet it truly is on the verge of skyrocketing for so long as we're able to make it an economical solution it could revolutionize the way we utilize everything from household items to massive infrastructure projects so we urge you to keep an eye on graphene because if scientists can get it right it will almost definitely be the material of the future on a less nano sized note thanks for watching super freaky science and don't forget to subscribe

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Views: 7,409

Rating: 4.9069767 out of 5

Keywords: super freaky science, science documentary, technology, tech documentary, tech, graphene, solar cell, solar energy, real graphene, water filtration

Id: YwZ96ltvXds

Length: 9min 40sec (580 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 27 2020