Posted on 07/12/2011 7:06:35 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Cheap solar panels. The most powerful transistors ever. Even the ability to make a fighter jet invisible.
Each of these breakthroughs has been announced in the last two weeks. Each relies on one of the most basic elements mined from the earth. And each could line your pockets with cash if you move quickly enough.
They all involve a wonder substance called graphene. It’s made from graphite – the same stuff you find in the center of a pencil. Except graphene consists of a single layer of carbon atoms.
Let’s hopscotch through these new developments…
Researchers in India have discovered how to build solar panels using graphene – a development that could finally make widespread solar energy economical.
Graphene solar panels have several advantages over silicon solar panels – starting with a better ability to absorb light. The problem is that up to now, they’ve been a lot more expensive – because the graphene requires other materials to move the electrons around just right.
The Indian scientists put two and two together. They realized that you can also build solar panels using “quantum dots” – microscopic quantities of particles like cadmium or lead. The problem with that is that cadmium and lead are highly toxic.
So…they wondered…what if they built “graphene quantum dots”?
SNIP
“China controls 80% of the global graphite market – just like China runs 97% of the world supply of rare earths. But the Chinese are running low on graphite reserves – same story as with rare earths.”
Byron’s hot on the case of a tiny company that’s sitting on a massive graphite reserve in the Canadian wilderness – 8 million tons. It can pull graphite from the ground for a cost of $400 per ton and sell it for $2,000. That’s $12.8 billion of potential
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Yeah. Thanks for the heads up on the name of that tiny company so we can invest in it, Byron.
Jerk.
It never occurred to me that this stuff needed to be mined. I thought you manufactured it. There is no process to make graphene?
Another Canadian company that has found “riches” in places others haven’t?
The name “Bre-X” comes to mind...
“There is no process to make graphene?”
Graphene can be mechanically exfoliated from highly oriented graphite, however the sample sizes are small. Chemical vapor deposition is a more common method, though grain sizes (and hence electrical conductivity) varies greatly with process and cooling rates. Other methods are being pioneered at The University of Texas, which has the best lab in the world for graphene research (though one at Purdue and one in Korea are also excellent).
but before you panic,
rare earths are plentiful within several meters on the ocean floor all around the earth.
So then grahpene is a natural form of carbon nanotubes?
I believe they’re talking about FCSMF.
Focus Metals
“Cheap solar panels.”
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Cheap? Who cares if they are still embarrassingly inefficient.
No thanks, if given a choice I’ll still take unfashionable petroleum, coal and natural gas reserves over “hip” new materials.
Not me, being able to make my own personal, endless electricity at home would be a dream come true.
Pump and dump.
I'd like to know the company so I can short it.
Truth is, these types of narratives work.
If they were attractive, Solar roofing shingles and solar siding would pretty much take care of my electrical needs with a battery back up system. If not enough power, I could build a screened in shade/shelter house.
“Not me, being able to make my own personal, endless electricity at home would be a dream come true.”
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Good.
You’ll let me know when that is even in the ballpark of being a remotely viable option, then?
You have got to see this! Unbelievable....a printer that prints in 3-d. Shows a wrench complete and usable after printing it...astounding really! Video has over 2 million hits already. So just print a solar pannel?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZboxMsSz5Aw&feature=youtu.be
This is the stupidest article in the world.
Graphene is CARBON. Comes from graphite ... which is ABUNDANT.
It already is for those that can afford solar, make it a lot cheaper and I will be in hog heaven as I power all of my luxurious heating and cooling and lighting that I want in my own little personal paradise, without have to worry about catastrophes, national emergencies, and personal income fluctuations.
The author is partially correct in that China controls 80% of these this mineral but is being deceptive in failing to point out that the USA has more than enough of this material within our own country. We just don’t have access to it because of the EPA and Enviro-Nazis and their liberal, Democrat servants in Congress.
As it stands now, the regulations currently on the books make it too damn expensive to mine for rare earth minerals (including graphite)in the USA. Mining companies and investors are interested in making a profit. Minimal profit on their investment combined with the huge potential for outrageous lawsuits due to ridiculous regulations forces these companies to go elsewhere. Thus, now we are forced to depend on the Chinese for more than just loaning us money.
The simple fact that it is still too expensive means that it is still not even close to being a viable option in the vast majority of situations.
Personally, I too would like my own personal quiet and clean little cold fusion reactor purring away in my basement.
What we would like, and what is dictated by efficiencies, technologies and economics are two very different things.
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