Graphene – The Coming of The Carbon Age.
Though I don’t get the chance to follow developments
in the 21st century miracle material graphene on a daily basis anymore,
I still try to tag along on a weekly basis. A new
carbon age is dawning, just as the bronze age replaced the stone age, and the
iron age replaced the bronze age. Below some recent developments in graphene and related technologies. I will try to post updates weekly.
Low cost, scalable water splitting fuels the future hydrogen economy
Date:
May 31, 2017
Source:
Penn State Materials Research Institute
Summary:
An efficient, low-cost catalyst could replace platinum in water-splitting for
clean hydrogen production.
The "clean energy economy" always seems to be a few steps away
but never quite here. Most energy for transportation, heating and cooling and
manufacturing is still delivered using fossil fuel inputs. But with a few
scientific breakthroughs, hydrogen, the most abundant element in the universe,
could be the energy carrier of a future clean energy society. Taking one step
closer toward the elusive goal, a team of scientists from Penn State and
Florida State University have developed a lower cost and industrially scalable
catalyst to produce pure hydrogen through a low-energy water-splitting process.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/05/170531134324.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fmatter_energy%2Fgraphene+%28Graphene+News+--+ScienceDaily%29Graphene and Quantum Dots put in motion a CMOS-integrated camera that can see the invisible
CFO develops the first graphene-quantum
dot based CMOS integrated camera, capable of imaging visible and infrared light
at the same time. Over
the past 40 years, microelectronics has advanced by leaps and bounds thanks to
silicon and CMOS (Complementary metal-oxide semiconductors) technology, making
possible computing, smartphones, compact and low-cost digital cameras, as well
as most of the electronic gadgets we rely on today. However, the
diversification of this platform into applications other than microcircuits and
visible light cameras has been impeded by the difficulty to combine
semiconductors other than silicon with CMOS.
This obstacle has now been overcome.
This obstacle has now been overcome.
Three-dimensional graphene: Experiment at BESSY II shows that optical properties are tuneable
Date:
May 24, 2017
Source:
Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie
Summary:
An international research team has for the first time investigated the optical
properties of three-dimensional nanoporous graphene at the IRIS infrared
beamline of the BESSY II electron storage ring. The experiments show that the
plasmonic excitations (oscillations of the charge density) in this new material
can be precisely controlled by the pore size and by introducing atomic
impurities. This could facilitate the manufacture of highly sensitive chemical
sensors.
Gas gives laser-induced graphene super properties
Inexpensive material can be superhydrophilic or superhydrophobic
Date:
May 15, 2017
Source:
Rice University
Summary:
Introducing gas to fabrication changes the water-reacting properties of
laser-induced graphene, making it either superhydrophilic or superhydrophobic.
Australian push may open more doors for batteries on power grids
Battery makers worldwide are watching to see whether Australia's most
wind power-dependent state can keep the lights on by installing grid-scale
batteries by December, which could help
drive the growth of renewable energy across Australia and Asia.
A decade-long political stalemate in Australia over energy and climate
policy has effectively led to power and gas shortages and soaring energy prices
threatening industry and households.
If batteries help solve Australia's problems by storing surplus
electricity generated by wind and solar power, countries like Indonesia, the
Philippines and Chile, could follow suit.
"I call South Australia the 'perfect storm' opportunity for energy
storage," said Ismario Gonzalez, global sales director for AES Energy
Storage, an arm of U.S. firm AES Corp, which has installed or is working on
battery projects in seven countries, including Australia.
Fast, non-destructive test for two-dimensional materials
Date:
April 28, 2017
Source:
Penn State Materials Research Institute
Summary:
A fast, nondestructive optical method for analyzing defects in two-dimensional
materials has been developed, with applications in electronics, sensing, early
cancer diagnosis and water desalination.
Eneco and Mitsubishi Plan Europe’s Largest Battery, Pitching Storage Against Coal and Gas
After considering the project for two years, lithium-ion battery costs finally hit the right price point.
Dutch developer Eneco and Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi are
developing a record-breaking battery designed for Germany’s primary reserve
market, which will compete against coal and gas units.
The two companies have formed a German joint venture, Enspire ME, to
develop what will be Europe’s largest battery plant, with 48 megawatts and 50
megawatt-hours of capacity, in Jardelund, Schleswig-Holstein, close to
Germany’s border with Denmark.
The location is a nexus for offshore wind farm energy transmission.
Enspire ME has already been granted a permit for the project and expects to
start construction at the beginning of June. The plant is due to be up and
running by December.
Making batteries from waste glass bottles
Researchers are turning glass bottles into high performance lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and personal electronics
Date: April 19, 2017
Source: University of California - Riverside
Summary: Researchers have used waste glass bottles and a
low-cost chemical process to create nanosilicon anodes for high-performance lithium-ion
batteries. The batteries will extend the range of electric vehicles and plug-in
hybrid electric vehicles, and provide more power with fewer charges to personal
electronics like cell phones and laptops.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170419112444.htm
Researchers 'iron out' graphene's wrinkles
New technique produces highly conductive graphene wafers
Date:
April 3, 2017
Source:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Summary: Engineers have found a way to make graphene
with fewer wrinkles, and to iron out the wrinkles that do appear. After
fabricating and then flattening out the graphene, the researchers tested its
electrical conductivity. They found each wafer exhibited uniform performance,
meaning that electrons flowed freely across each wafer, at similar speeds, even
across previously wrinkled regions.
3 April 2017
Graphene sieve turns seawater into drinking water
Graphene-oxide membranes have attracted considerable attention as promising candidates for new filtration technologies. Now the much sought-after development of making membranes capable of sieving common salts has been achieved.New research demonstrates the real-world potential of providing clean drinking water for millions of people who struggle to access adequate clean water sources.
The new findings from a group of scientists at The University of Manchester were published today in the journal Nature Nanotechnology. Previously graphene-oxide membranes have shown exciting potential for gas separation and water filtration.
New ultrafast flexible and transparent memory devices could herald new era of electronics
Date:
March 31, 2017
Source:
University of Exeter
Summary:
An innovative new technique to produce the quickest, smallest, highest-capacity
memories for flexible and transparent applications could pave the way for a
future golden age of electronics.
Engineering experts from the University of Exeter have developed
innovative new memory using a hybrid of graphene oxide and titanium oxide.
Their devices are low cost and eco-friendly to produce, are also perfectly
suited for use in flexible electronic devices such as 'bendable' mobile phone,
computer and television screens, and even 'intelligent' clothing.
Built from the bottom up, nanoribbons pave the way to 'on-off' states for graphene
Date: March 30, 2017
Source: DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Summary: A new way to grow narrow ribbons of graphene, a
lightweight and strong structure of single-atom-thick carbon atoms linked into
hexagons, may address a shortcoming that has prevented the material from
achieving its full potential in electronic applications. Graphene nanoribbons,
mere billionths of a meter wide, exhibit different electronic properties than
two-dimensional sheets of the material.
The Future of Solar Energy
An Interdisciplinary MIT Study led by the MIT Energy Initiative
May 5, 2015
This
study is the latest in the MIT Energy Initiative's "Future of"
series. Its predecessors have shed light on a range of complex and important
issues involving energy and the environment.
More
Blu-Ray Disc Can be Used to Improve Solar Cell Performance
Data storage pattern transferred to solar cell increases light absorption
EVANSTON, Ill. --- Who knew
Blu-ray discs were so useful? Already one of the best ways to store
high-definition movies and television shows because of their high-density data
storage, Blu-ray discs also improve the performance of solar cells — suggesting
a second use for unwanted discs — according to new research from Northwestern
University.
An interdisciplinary research
team has discovered that the pattern of information written on a Blu-ray disc --
and it doesn’t matter if it’s Jackie Chan’s “Police Story 3: Supercop” or the
cartoon “Family Guy” -- works very well for improving light absorption across
the solar spectrum. And better yet, the researchers know why.
http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2014/11/blu-ray-disc-can-be-used-to-improve-solar-cell-performance.html#sthash.1bqgyeJA.dpufNew class of 3-D-printed aerogels improve energy storage
April 22, 2015 DOE/Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory
Researchers have made graphene aerogel
microlattices with an engineered architecture via a 3-D printing technique
known as direct ink writing.
A
new type of graphene aerogel will make for better energy storage, sensors,
nanoelectronics, catalysis and separations.
Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory researchers have made graphene aerogel microlattices with an
engineered architecture via a 3D printing technique known as direct ink
writing. The research appears in the April 22 edition of the journal, Nature
Communications.
Future electronics based on carbon nanotubes
April 7,
2015
American Institute of Physics
(AIP)
A big barrier to building useful
electronics with carbon nanotubes has always been the fact that when they're
arrayed into films, a certain portion of them will act more like metals than
semiconductors. But now researchers have shown how to strip out the metallic
carbon nanotubes from arrays using a relatively simple, scalable procedure that
does not require expensive equipment.
More
Scientists develop cool process to make better graphene
March 18, 2015
California Institute of Technology
Summary: A new technique to produce
graphene -- a material made up of an atom-thick layer of carbon -- at room
temperature could help pave the way for commercially feasible graphene-based
solar cells and light-emitting diodes, large-panel displays, and flexible
electronics.
A new technique invented at Caltech to
produce graphene--a material made up of an atom-thick layer of carbon--at room
temperature could help pave the way for commercially feasible graphene-based
solar cells and light-emitting diodes, large-panel displays, and flexible
electronics.
Protons fuel graphene prospects
November
26, 2014 University of Manchester
Summary:
Graphene, impermeable to all
gases and liquids, can easily allow protons to pass through it researchers have
found.
Published in the journal Nature, the
discovery could revolutionise fuel cells and other hydrogen-based technologies
as they require a barrier that only allow protons -- hydrogen atoms stripped
off their electrons -- to pass through.
uel cells.
More
Quantum dot breakthrough could lead to cheap spray-on solar cells
By Dario Borghino June
10, 2014
Researchers at the University of Toronto
have manufactured and tested a new type of colloidal quantum dots (CQD), that,
unlike previous attempts, doesn't lose performance as they keep in contact with
oxygen. The development could lead to much cheaper or even spray-on solar
cells, as well as better LEDs, lasers and weather satellites.
A paper detailing the advance was published in the journal Nature Materials.
Source: University of Toronto
Improved supercapacitors for super batteries, electric vehicles
Date: May 19,
2014
Source: University of California -
Riverside
Summary:
Researchers have developed a
novel nanometer scale ruthenium oxide anchored nanocarbon graphene foam
architecture that improves the performance of supercapacitors, a development
that could mean faster acceleration in electric vehicles and longer battery
life in portable electronics.
'Soft' Approach Leads to Revolutionary Energy Storage: Graphene-Based Supercapacitors
Aug. 1, 2013 — Monash
University researchers have brought next generation energy storage closer with
an engineering first -- a graphene-based device that is compact, yet lasts as
long as a conventional battery.
Published today in Science, a research team led by Professor Dan Li of the Department of Materials Engineering has developed a completely new strategy to engineer graphene-based supercapacitors (SC), making them viable for widespread use in renewable energy storage, portable electronics and electric vehicles.
SCs are generally made of highly porous carbon impregnated with a liquid electrolyte to transport the electrical charge. Known for their almost indefinite lifespan and the ability to re-charge in seconds, the drawback of existing SCs is their low energy-storage-to-volume ratio -- known as energy density. Low energy density of five to eight Watt-hours per litre, means SCs are unfeasibly large or must be re-charged frequently.
Professor Li's team has created an SC with energy density of 60 Watt-hours per litre -- comparable to lead-acid batteries and around 12 times higher than commercially available SCs.
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