Skip to content

We ask you, humbly: don't scroll away.

Hi readers, it seems you use Catholic Online a lot; that's great! It's a little awkward to ask, but we need your help. If you have already donated, we sincerely thank you. We're not salespeople, but we depend on donations averaging $14.76 and fewer than 1% of readers give. If you donate just $5.00, the price of your coffee, Catholic Online School could keep thriving. Thank you.

Help Now >

Miracle substance grown in common household blender

Free World Class Education
FREE Catholic Classes
The blender provided a test model for how to create the substance called graphene

A team of scientists from Ireland and the UK may have just discovered a quick new way to mass produce the wonder material grapheme.

Highlights

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
Catholic Online (https://www.catholic.org)
4/22/2014 (9 years ago)

Published in Technology

Keywords: Science, technology,

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Published in the journal Nature Materials, the team outlines how they managed to produce a quantity of the material by putting graphite powder into a blender, and then adding water and dishwashing liquid, mixing the concoction at high speeds.

Graphene comes in a one-atom thick sheet of carbon atoms, arranged in a honeycomb structure. It is thin, strong, flexible, and electrically conductive material that has the potential to revolutionize the electronics world, as well as other industries. This potential has kept researchers looking for a way to make defect-free grapheme quickly, and in large amounts.

Help put technology to good use by stopping abortion.

The shearing force generated by the blender's rapidly rotating blade was sufficient to separate the layers of grapheme in the solution without damaging the two-dimensional structure. The precise amount of dishwashing fluid that's required for the process to work is dependent on a number of different factors and the black solution containing grapheme needs to be carefully separated afterwards, so it is not advisable to try this at home.

Researchers say that their work has helped them progress towards mass production, and scientists working in conjunction with Thomas Swan, a UK-based firm, hope to scale up the process and build a test plant that could produce a kilo of grapheme per day by the end of 2014.

Beyond just electronic and industrial uses, grapheme may find its way into water treatment, oil spill clean-ups, or even help produce thinner condoms.

Grapheme was discovered in 2004 by Andre Geim and Konsantin Novoselov, researchers from Manchester University. The material was discovered when they used sticky tape to peel off layers of the material from graphite.

Currently, graphene is grown atom-by-atom with a process called chemical vapour deposition. While this process can produce large sheets of the material, they also can have defects which limit their usability.

---


'Help Give every Student and Teacher FREE resources for a world-class Moral Catholic Education'


Copyright 2021 - Distributed by Catholic Online

Join the Movement
When you sign up below, you don't just join an email list - you're joining an entire movement for Free world class Catholic education.

Lent logo
Saint of the Day logo
Deacon Keith Fournier Hi readers, it seems you use Catholic Online a lot; that's great! It's a little awkward to ask, but we need your help. If you have already donated, we sincerely thank you. We're not salespeople, but we depend on donations averaging $14.76 and fewer than 1% of readers give. If you donate just $5.00, the price of your coffee, Catholic Online School could keep thriving. Thank you. Help Now >

Catholic Online Logo

Copyright 2024 Catholic Online. All materials contained on this site, whether written, audible or visual are the exclusive property of Catholic Online and are protected under U.S. and International copyright laws, © Copyright 2024 Catholic Online. Any unauthorized use, without prior written consent of Catholic Online is strictly forbidden and prohibited.

Catholic Online is a Project of Your Catholic Voice Foundation, a Not-for-Profit Corporation. Your Catholic Voice Foundation has been granted a recognition of tax exemption under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Federal Tax Identification Number: 81-0596847. Your gift is tax-deductible as allowed by law.