{"id":38,"date":"2020-01-30T16:45:31","date_gmt":"2020-01-30T16:45:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/writingsciencenews2020\/?p=38"},"modified":"2020-02-04T21:18:33","modified_gmt":"2020-02-04T21:18:33","slug":"one-mans-trash-is-another-mans-graphene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/writingsciencenews2020\/2020\/01\/30\/one-mans-trash-is-another-mans-graphene\/","title":{"rendered":"One Man’s Trash is Another Man’s… Graphene?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Graphene is the material of an alchemist\u2019s dreams.\u00a0 The seemingly weak graphite found in a pencil is transformed into the strongest material known to mankind, albeit through a roundabout process.\u00a0 And while the latest method of graphene synthesis proposed by nano-chemists and nano-engineers from Rice University certainly adheres to this roundabout method, they have added a new player to the field of sustainable nanochemistry.<\/span><\/p>\n

Trash.<\/span><\/p>\n

No, you didn\u2019t misread that, nor did I mistype.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Garbage,

Image courtesy of Creative Commons<\/p><\/div>\n

From the hairs on our heads to our morning coffee grounds, Duy X. Long and his skilled team of researchers have devised a way to extract graphene from carbon-based trash.\u00a0 Through a method referred to as Flash Joule, inexpensive carbon\u00a0<\/span>sources – such as coal, food waste, car<\/span> tires, and plastics – are shot with a high voltage, heating the material upwards of 3,000K (approximately 4,9<\/span>40 degrees\u00a0<\/span>Fahrenheit) in 0.01 seconds.\u00a0 This process allows tiny particles of graphene to properly align in a sturdy conformation. The speedy nature of this\u00a0<\/span>synthesis gave rise to the name Flash Graphene.<\/span><\/p>\n

“…one gram of graphene can be made in 0.01 seconds…”<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Once produced, Flash Graphene\u2019s strength is applicable to a wide variety of inventions.\u00a0 When combined with cement, Flash Graphene disperses throughout the structure and increases its durability by ~25%.\u00a0 This is not only a significant improvement to the cement itself, but to different types of graphene as a whole. Flash Graphene\u2019s ability to evenly spread throughout a product makes it a better candidate for building materials than electrochemically produced graphene.\u00a0 Flash Graphene\u2019s certainly no slacker in the electronic department either. While not as powerful as other forms of graphene (such as those synthesized through electrochemical methods), renewable Flash Graphene has proven to be a strong electrical conductor suitable for building batteries.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Model<\/a>

Model of graphene structure, image courtesy of Creative Commons<\/p><\/div>\n

On top of being a sustainable resource, Flash Graphene is also relatively easy and cost-effective to produce when compared to other iterations of graphene.\u00a0 Ordinarily, to produce graphene in bulk quantities a top-down method is utilized. This approach \u201cexfoliates\u201d graphite to its bare essentials through a very intensive, harsh, and chemical-heavy process.\u00a0 Due to the necessary materials needed to access a small amount of graphene, the synthesis results in an excess of waste. On the other hand, a traditional bottom-up synthesis, while more sustainable, ultimately yields very little product.<\/span><\/p>\n

Flash Graphene offers another option.\u00a0 Unlike the top-down approach, Flash Graphene doesn\u2019t require solvents and therefore doesn\u2019t generate much waste. In comparison to the classic bottom-up process, the Flash Joule bottom-up method is also practical in terms of return product: one gram of graphene can be made in 0.01 seconds.\u00a0 The process is also simple enough that it could be automated for continuous synthesis in an industrial setting. Combined, these improvements imply that we could very well see Flash Graphene implemented in our everyday lives in the future.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-020-1938-0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Luong, D.X., Bets, K.V., Algozeeb, W.A. <\/span>et al.<\/span><\/i> Gram-scale bottom-up flash graphene synthesis. <\/span>Nature<\/span><\/i> 577, 647\u2013651 (2020). https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41586-020-1938-0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Graphene is the material of an alchemist\u2019s dreams.\u00a0 The seemingly weak graphite found in a pencil is transformed into the strongest material known to mankind, albeit through a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4279,"featured_media":179,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2545],"tags":[19698,7051],"class_list":["post-38","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environment","tag-chemistry","tag-sustainability"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/writingsciencenews2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/writingsciencenews2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/writingsciencenews2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/writingsciencenews2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4279"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/writingsciencenews2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/writingsciencenews2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/writingsciencenews2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/writingsciencenews2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/writingsciencenews2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/writingsciencenews2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}