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Graphene can be used for ultra-high density hard disk drives (HDD), with up to a tenfold jump compared to current technologies, researchers at the Cambridge Graphene Centre have shown. The study, published in Nature Communications, was carried out in collaboration with teams at the University of Exeter, India, Switzerland, Singapore, and the US. HDDs first appeared in the 1950s, but their use as storage devices in personal computers only took off from the mid-1980s. They have become ever smaller in size, and denser in terms of the number of stored bytes. While solid state drives are popular for mobile devices,...

Branching in the fracture of a h-BN sample. (J. Lou/Rice University) ======================================================================= A two-dimensional material with similar physical properties to graphene has now turned out to blow graphene out of the water in terms of toughness. The material is called hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), and it's so resistant to cracking that scientists are gobsmacked. The finding flies in the face of the fundamental description of fracture mechanics that scientists have been using to predict and define toughness since the 1920s. "What we observed in this material is remarkable," said materials scientist Jun Lou of Rice University. "Nobody expected to see...

Structure of the new carbon network. The upper part shows schematically the linking of the carbon atoms, forming squares, hexagons, and octagons. The lower part is an image of the network, obtained with high-resolution microscopy. Credit: University of Marburg, Aalto University ================================================================================ Carbon exists in various forms. In addition to diamond and graphite, there are recently discovered forms with astonishing properties. For example graphene, with a thickness of just one atomic layer, is the thinnest known material, and its unusual properties make it an extremely exciting candidate for applications like future electronics and high-tech engineering. In graphene, each carbon atom...

The researchers, led by the University of Cambridge, were able to control the conductivity and magnetism of iron thiophosphate (FePS3), a two-dimensional material which undergoes a transition from an insulator to a metal when compressed. This class of magnetic materials offers new routes to understanding the physics of new magnetic states and superconductivity. Using new high-pressure techniques, the researchers have shown what happens to magnetic graphene during the transition from insulator to conductor and into its unconventional metallic state, realized only under ultra-high pressure conditions. When the material becomes metallic, it remains magnetic, which is contrary to previous results and...

Graphene hybrid made from metal organic frameworks (MOF) and graphenic acid make an excellent positive electrode for supercapacitors, which thus achieve an energy density similar to that of nickel-metal hydride batteries. Credit: Prof. Dr. J. Kolleboyina / IITJ ==================================================================== A team working with Roland Fischer, Professor of Inorganic and Metal-Organic Chemistry at the Technical University Munich (TUM) has developed a highly efficient supercapacitor. The basis of the energy storage device is a novel, powerful and also sustainable graphene hybrid material that has comparable performance data to currently utilized batteries. Usually, energy storage is associated with batteries and accumulators that provide...

Researchers build circuit that harnessed the atomic motion of graphene to generate an electrical current that could lead to a chip to replace batteries. ============================================================================ A team of University of Arkansas physicists has successfully developed a circuit capable of capturing graphene’s thermal motion and converting it into an electrical current. “An energy-harvesting circuit based on graphene could be incorporated into a chip to provide clean, limitless, low-voltage power for small devices or sensors,” said Paul Thibado, professor of physics and lead researcher in the discovery. The findings, published in the journal Physical Review E, are proof of a theory the...

Multinational food packaging company Tetra Pak will be exploring the possible future applications of graphene in food and beverage manufacturing as the exclusive representative from the packaging industry at the European Commission Graphene Flagship project. The company is leading research and development in the packaging industry into how graphene can be used to unlock innovations for food and beverages. Graphene is a thin, carbon-based material that is around 200 times stronger than steel. It is an excellent conductor of heat and electricity, and absorbs light in a number of ways. Tetra Pak will look at how graphene can be used...

Graphene, a recently discovered wonder material, is increasingly sought after for its superior electrical, thermal, optical and mechanical properties. It is used in the manufacture of optoelectronic devices such as detectors, sensors and solar cells. It is made up of one-atom-thick, honeycomb-like structure of carbon atoms. A significant challenge faced by scientists is the fabrication of large-area graphene sheets for devices. Finding a ‘green’ source for the carbon atoms is another hurdle. Indian researchers have now developed a new method to fabricate graphene sheets from camphor — a readily available ingredient often used in religious rituals. “Camphor is a plant...

Samsung may be in the race to develop a graphene-based alternative to lithium-ion batteries for its phones. Rumors are going around claiming that the Company hopes to have at least one phone with a graphene battery ready next year or by 2021. The word is that these graphene-based batteries will be capable of a full charge in under a half-hour, but they still need to raise capacities while lowering costs. In 2017, Samsung said its researchers developed a "graphene ball" material that enables five times faster charging speeds than standard lithium-ion batteries. Samsung may be looking into battery alternatives following...

In a marriage of quantum science and solid-state physics, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have used magnetic fields to confine groups of electrons to a series of concentric rings within graphene, a single layer of tightly packed carbon atoms. This tiered "wedding cake," which appears in images that show the energy level structure of the electrons, experimentally confirms how electrons interact in a tightly confined space according to long-untested rules of quantum mechanics. The findings could also have practical applications in quantum computing. Graphene is a highly promising material for new electronic devices because of...

By making carbon leak (trickle down) through cracks on copper, researchers have developed a new process for “growing” graphene directly on materials used for nano-scale electronic applications, thereby opening the way to produce high-performance electronic devices. This versatile process, developed by a team of chemical engineers led by Indian-American Vikas Berry at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) in the US, enables graphene to be economically grown on almost any semiconducting or dielectric substrate of relevance to the electronic industry, the researchers claim. They have reported this new method in the journal “ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces” of the...

Researchers have been able to confine light down to a space one atom, the smallest possible. This will pave the way to ultra-small optical switches, detectors and sensors. Light can function as an ultra-fast communication channel, for example between different sections of a computer chip, but it can also be used for ultra-sensitive sensors or on-chip nanoscale lasers. There is currently much research into how to further shrink devices that control and guide light. New techniques searching for ways to confine light into extremely tiny spaces, much smaller than current ones, have been on the rise. Researchers had previously found...

Concrete is one of the most widely used building materials in the world, but it also is responsible for about 5% of all global carbon dioxide emissions according to the Earth Institute at Columbia University. Those emissions result directly from the conversion of limestone into cement and indirectly by burning fuel to heat the limestone to 1400º C, the temperature required to initiate the conversion process. “Cement manufacturing is highly energy and emissions intensive because of the extreme heat required to produce it. Producing a ton of cement requires 4.7 million BTU of energy, equivalent to about 400 pounds of...

Graphene is proper 'disruptive technology'. Every press release in the tech industry now contains that awful phrase, but graphene is the only material capable of changing the world of electronics as we know it. It's ultra-light, just an atom thin, and yet it’s 200 times stronger than steel. It's flexible, transparent, and more conductive than copper. Scientists have been promising stronger, lighter, flexible products, faster transistors, bendable phones, and many other breakthrough graphene gadgets for over a decade. So, what's taking scientists so long to make the graphene era a reality? Or, is it really taking as long as some...

Graphene is something of a celebrity in the world of nanoscale materials. Isolated in 2004 by Nobel Prize winners Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, these ultrathin sheets of carbon atoms are already finding novel uses in areas like electronics, high-efficiency heating systems, water purification technologies and even golf balls. According to recent research published in the journal Chem, hair dyes can now be added to this list. But how safe and responsible is this new use of the carbon-based wonder-material? Northwestern University’s press release proudly announced, “Graphene finds new application as nontoxic, anti-static hair dye.” The announcement spawned headlines like...

Everyone's favorite wonder material, graphene, has been wrung through just about every experiment on Earth – but how does it fare beyond our planet? A European team has tested graphene under microgravity conditions for the first time, an important step towards realizing the material's promising applications in space. For those not familiar with the stuff, graphene is made of sheets of carbon just a single atom thick, and it boasts an impressive array of superpowers. It is an excellent conductor of heat and electricity, and it's incredibly strong, light and flexible. This combination makes graphene perfect for use in space....

Six years ago, Jiaxing Huang discovered crumpled graphene balls -- novel ultrafine particles that resemble crumpled paper balls. Credit: Jiaxing Huang ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Lithium metal-based batteries have the potential to turn the battery industry upside down. With the theoretically ultra-high capacity of lithium metal used by itself, this new type of battery could power everything from personal devices to cars. "In current batteries, lithium is usually atomically distributed in another material such as graphite or silicon in the anode," explains Northwestern University's Jiaxing Huang. "But using an additional material 'dilutes' the battery's performance. Lithium is already a metal, so why not...

Graphene is a single layer of graphite — also known as that soft material commonly found in pencil lead — with the atoms arranged in a honeycomb-like, hexagonal pattern. While that description is decidedly unexciting, graphene is actually emerging as one of science’s most versatile new materials. Just one atom thick (or thin, depending on how you think about it), graphene is among the strongest materials in the known universe, with 100 times the strength of steel, an astonishing amount of flexibility, and a whole lot of other talents lurking beneath the surface. Do you remember that classic scene from...

IAMOND-HARD ARMOR The media tends to depict bullet-proof armor as something that’s thick and heavier than regular clothes. Despite being for bodily protection, the added bulk of that armor might restrict a person’s movements. But scientists at the City University of New York’s Advanced Science Research Center (ASRC) have found that diamond-hard armor doesn’t need to be thick. The key to less-bulky protection is graphene, a tightly-packed layer of bonded carbon atoms one million times thinner than a piece of paper. The researchers discovered that two layers of graphene stacked on top of one another can temporarily become as hard...

Running shoes and graphene were made for each other. One is always in search of the latest gimmick and the other has produced some of the most stunning in recent memory. The University of Manchester, long a leading force in research surrounding the one-atom-thick material, has teamed up with British sportswear brand inov-8 to bring graphene to footwear. Unlike most of the research we’ve seen around science’s recent favorite miracle material, these things are headed to the market in our lifetimes — a seeming miracle in and of itself. In fact, they’re due out next year, priced at a steep,...