graphene
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Super-speedy light detector gives x-ray machines a run for their money
It's very tough to find light beyond certain frequencies. If you want to see elusive terahertz waves, for example, you have to get a system that's either really slow or needs to be kept at a temperature near absolute zero -- not exactly practical. The University of Maryland's scientists have a better way, however. They've developed a graphene-based detector that not only works at room temperature, but should be over a million times faster than previous tech. The very nature of graphene is what makes it work so well; since the material doesn't absorb the heat from incoming light, you can use it as a sensor without having to keep it chilly or otherwise jump through hoops to get an accurate reading.
Scientists turn to hemp for cheap, fast-charging batteries
Forget lab-made materials like graphene -- natural, old-fashioned hemp may be the ticket to our energy future. Researchers have demonstrated that you can make very efficient carbon electrodes simply by heating hemp bast fibers in a two-stage process. The resulting substance holds as much energy as graphene, but is much cheaper to make. You're just using biological leftovers, after all. It's much more tolerant of temperature extremes, too, and can survive anything from freezing conditions to a scorching 200F. And before you ask -- this is hemp, not pot, so you're not going to get a contact high just by using a battery.
If graphene is the next big thing, is Apple already way behind?
For massive companies like Apple and Samsung, continued success often depends on pioneering new technologies and staying ahead of the curve. Graphene, an ultra-thin and ultra-strong arrangement of carbon atoms is one of the front runners for the category of "next big thing" in tech. A graphene sheet is as thin as a single atom and still retains its electrically conductive and heat dissipating properties, making it a fantastic material for the ever-slimmer world of mobile gadgets. When it comes to graphene, Samsung has been snatching up patents like crazy, filing over 400 (with some duplicates between regions) with mentions of graphene, worldwide. The filings range from manufacturing processes to methods of applying graphene on different surfaces, but the most interesting patents relate to touchscreens (an image from one touchscreen filing is shown below). If the future of smart devices include flexible screens, graphene would be a fantastic material for such an application, as it's bendable, conductive, and extremely durable. Apple thus far has filed exactly two patents mentioning graphene -- one for a graphene heat dissipation system and one for a "graphene current collector." That's it. So are we seeing the foundation for a future where Apple pays for the privilege of using patented processes and material applications? Not so fast. The angle du jour seems to be that Apple and Samsung are in an all-out race for graphene patents, and whoever has the highest number wins. That's a valid, if perhaps a bit shortsighted, way of looking at it. Yes, having patents related to an emerging technology is indeed a good thing, but Apple has never really been a big player in the R&D game at such a basic level. Apple doesn't need to have a patent on an industrial production method for making graphene in order to use the resulting material in a creative and innovative way. Apple's most valuable patents have always been related to actual products and services. Samsung being ahead of the game on potential graphene touchscreen applications is indeed something the company can stick in its cap, it's not as though Apple has ever had a problem paying a competitor for its manufacturing prowess. Remember, while mainstream news sites create goofy TV graphics showing Apple and Samsung logos in a boxing ring over the hugely publicized patent disputes, Apple's ultra-powerful mobile chips are still manufactured by Samsung. If Apple were to end up buying graphene sheets from Samsung for use in its mobile devices, it's not a sign of Apple kneeling to its new master. It's business as usual. [Photo credit: University of Exeter]
Move aside graphene, there's a new wonder-material on its way
Everyone talks about graphene as if it'll solve all of the world's problems, forgetting that it's got a few of its own, too. The biggest issue is that the substance only works in two dimensions, making it hard to use to build complex pieces of hardware. That's why researchers from Oxford, Stanford and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are turning their attentions to Cadmium Arsenide. Like its more famous frenemy, the substance can transmit electricity at tremendous speeds, but will also work in three dimensions, which is far more useful when building transistors and sensors. Researcher Yulin Chen goes so far as to say that this "family of materials could be a good candidate for everyday use." It's easy to make bold claims before the locked doors of a university lab, but still, if smartphones are ever going to make use of graphene in the real, three-dimensional world, then this could be the missing piece in the puzzle. [Image Credit: Greg Stewart / SLAC]
Graphene: miracle material and potentially potent pollutant
While the rest of the world has been harping on about how strong, conductive, light-sensitive and generally amazing graphene is, stern-faced researchers at the University of California have been investigating the material's potential downsides. They've shown that graphene oxide nanoparticles fail to break apart easily in lakes and rivers, such that they can last a long time and travel large distances in water, potentially with serious consequences for the environment. As to what these consequences might be, exactly, nobody really knows -- although there's growing evidence that certain forms of graphene can be toxic, especially if they come into contact with the lungs. At this point, however, the main conclusion reached by Dr. Jacob Lanphere and his colleagues at UC Riverside is simply that humanity needs to stop and think about how it's going to house, transport and dispose of this stuff safely: "The situation today is similar to where we were with chemicals and pharmaceuticals 30 years ago... We just don't know much about what happens when these engineered nanomaterials get into the ground or water."
Samsung promises truly flexible electronics sooner with graphene breakthrough
Graphene. It was going to reinvigorate the electronics industry. Better than silicon, flexible yet more durable than steel and with high heat conduction, it all sounded like The Dream for thinner components and wearables.. but it kinda faded away. Well, it's back, according to Samsung. In a partnership with Sungkyunkwan University, it reckons it's solved the tricky issue of manufacturing "large area, single crystal wafer scale graphene," or simply: big, thin sheets of it. Manufacturing methods in the past have reduced the electric and mechanic benefits associated with the material -- one reason it's taken so long to be commercialized and, you know, appear in for real, for sale things. Samsung's involvement should mean it could actually happen.
IBM's speedy graphene chip could lead to super-efficient mobile devices
Chips with graphene inside are theoretically quicker than plain silicon designs, but they've been slow in practice; the manufacturing process often damages the graphene, stripping away its speed advantage. That won't be a big problem with IBM's prototype radio receiver, though. The company inserted graphene transistors into the new chip only after it finished assembling the mostly silicon design, keeping the more exotic material intact. The resulting integrated circuit is about 10,000 times more powerful than previous parts, IBM claims. The test unit hasn't done more than send a text message so far, but it could lead to future wireless radios that are both faster and consume less power. If you eventually get a graphene-powered smartphone with great data speeds and a long battery life, you'll know who to thank.
World's smallest FM transmitter built with graphene, ruined by Psy
Researchers have been using graphene to develop an assortment of technologically advanced things for a while, from camera sensors and contact lenses all the way to frickin' lasers. That's why it's not a surprise to see a group of engineers from Columbia University create the world's smallest FM transmitter using the atom-thick material. The end product isn't just for show, either, as it can pump tunes over the airwaves to a regular FM radio -- the team even used Gangnam Style to prove that it works. As interesting as the teensy transmitter is, the engineers have no plans to build a radio for ants, and this is merely part of a larger study into nano-electromechanical systems. Now all we need is for someone to make a tiny violin and a pair of tweezers small enough for us to play.
Scientists show how to make an integrated circuit using only graphene
IBM built an integrated circuit using graphene back in 2011, but it wasn't a complete breakthrough -- much of the hardware was based on old-fashioned metal and silicon. UC Santa Barbara has gone one step further by showing how to design an IC made exclusively from the advanced substance. The new process shapes circuit components from graphene ribbons whose properties change depending on the pattern; a narrow ribbon is semiconducting, while a wide ribbon is metallic. Chips designed this way should be thinner, more efficient and easier to assemble than their mixed-material counterparts. The catch? Right now, this all-graphene IC exists solely as a computer model. When there are no immediate plans for production, it could be a long while before we see the real thing.
Alt-week 09.15.13: Record-breaking glass, nature's gears, and Hubble's huge find
Alt-week takes a look at the best science and alternative tech stories from the last seven days. This week's alternative roundup focuses on exploration, experimentation and discovery -- both on land and in space. Here on Earth, Cornell's stumbled upon a new glass that breaks records and researchers in Europe have discovered an insect with cob wheel-styled gear joints for movement. Meanwhile, above our atmosphere, NASA's Hubble telescope made a large discovery of its own. This is alt-week.
Scientists build soft, transparent contact lens displays with nanomaterials
Of the contact lens display prototypes that we've seen so far, few if any are focused on comfort -- a slight problem when they're meant to sit on our eyeballs. A collaboration between Samsung and multiple universities may solve this with display tech that's meant to be cozy from the start. By putting silver nanowires between graphene layers, researchers have created transparent conductors that can drive LEDs while remaining flexible enough to sit on a contact lens. Current test lenses only have one pixel, but they're so soft that rabbits can wear them for five hours without strain. Scientists also see the seemingly inevitable, Glass-like wearable display as just one development path -- they're working on biosensors and active vision correction. While there's still a long way to go before we reach a cyberpunk future of near-invisible displays, we may finally have some of the groundwork in place.
Graphene camera sensors said to be 1,000 times more sensitive to light
While we're still scratching around with Ultrapixels and OIS, scientists in Singapore claim they're working on something that could change the entire field of photography. Researchers at the Nanyang Technological University have developed an image sensor made out of graphene that's 1,000 times better at capturing light than traditional CMOS or CCD sensors, all while using 10x less energy. These new sensors may initially be used in surveillance equipment and satellites -- when they do eventually end up in regular cameras, however, they're promised to be five times cheaper than the sensors they're replacing. Combine this with the work being done on graphene batteries, and we're that much closer to the perfect smartphone.
Scientists capture images of molecules forming atomic bonds
For most of us, molecular bonding only really exists as a classroom concept. Some scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory can now claim more tangible knowledge, however: they're the first to have taken truly clear snapshots of bonding in progress. While trying to create graphene nanostructures and observe them with an atomic force microscope, a lab team spotted molecules forming their individual, atom-level links during a chemical reaction. The resulting shots were nearly textbook material, too -- as the molecules were neatly placed on a flat surface, the researchers identified the order and nature of each bond. While the images will only be immediately useful for the nanostructure research at hand, they may add a welcome dash of reality to future chemistry lessons.
Scientists find that graphene can be used to build lasers
You already know that graphene can be used to make transistors, solar cells and even Sennheiser-quality cans. But if you think that's about as cool as the carbon material can get, listen to this: It can also be used to make ultrashort-pulse lasers. According to scientists from a smattering of institutions, the atomic-scale chickenwire material has the ability to absorb light effectively -- much like a sponge -- over a broad range of wavelengths. It can then release the light it absorbs in quick bursts that last a few femtoseconds each (with one femtosecond lasting one millionth of one billionth of a second), which is what ultrashort-pulse lasers do. With graphene as a component instead of traditional materials, scientists could develop a laser as small as a pencil that's immune to thermal damage typically caused by intense beams. The finished product, if ever someone actually concocts one, could be applied across a variety of fields -- everything from pollution monitoring to medicine. For those unafraid of technobabble, there's plenty more in the source link. [Image credit: Michaelpkk, Wikimedia]
EPFL mixes graphene and molybdenite to make very efficient, flexible flash memory
We've seen graphene chips, and we've seen molybdenite chips. What would happen if we combined the two? If EPFL's experimental flash memory is any clue, we might get one of the better blends since chocolate met peanut butter. The chip uses graphene's high conductivity for the memory itself, as well as for electrodes, but stuffs molybdenite in between to rapidly switch electrical states (such as what you'd see in write commands) while using little power. The hybrid is theoretically both faster and more power-efficient than conventional silicon designs, but that's just the start: the extra-thin nature of either material is better-suited to flexible electronics on top of shrinking the chip footprint. If there's anything at this stage that would sour EPFL's dreams of a storage utopia, it's time. There's no immediate mention of commercialization plans for the mutant memory, which could leave us stuck on silicon for awhile.
Science: Graphene headphones can beat your fancy cans
Feeling smug about those brand-name cans you just bought? A pair of researchers from Berkeley just made 'em obsolete with some Graphene. Conventional gear needs an oscillator that has to be damped down to produce a constant sound between 20Hz and 20kHz. Graphene, on the other hand, can be tailored to do the same job without any complicated, and power draining, over-engineering. Qin Zhou and Alex Zettl found their power-sipping setup to be as good, if not better than the pair of Sennheisers they tested it against. We're hopeful that Graphene headphones aren't too far away, assuming Fiddy doesn't get to the pair first and shut 'em down.
EU backs consortium in billion-euro program to hasten graphene development
If you're anxious for all this talk about graphene to materialize into products that can be tucked away in your shoulder bag, you're certainly not alone. A consortium dubbed the Graphene Flagship, which includes heavyweights such as Nokia and the University of Cambridge, has been selected by the European Union to participate in a program that'll endow it with 1 billion euros over 10 years to make that happen. The hope is that pairing up researchers and businesses will hasten the development of material and component manufacturing processes for the carbon-based substance, and make it possible for graphene to find its way into products such as flexible electronics, batteries and faster processors. During the first 30 months of the program, 126 academic and industrial research groups spread throughout 17 European countries will be coordinated by Chalmers University of Technology and have their collective pockets filled with an initial 54 million euro budget to kick things off. It's a long haul, but here's hoping Espoo's Morph concept inches a little closer to reality. [Image credit: Nokia]
Cambridge University opening Graphene Centre to take material 'to the next level'
As a quick glimpse of research in recent years will show you, there's seemingly no limit to what graphene can do. The carbon-based substance has largely remained the realm of the laboratory, but Cambridge is amongst those universities looking to help the amazing substance play a bigger role in industry. As part of its efforts, the school is set to start work on the Graphene Center at the beginning of next month, a facility that's set to "take graphene to the next level" when it opens shop by year's end, with the help of a £12 million ($19 million) grant. Scientists at the center will seek to harness the material to help create things like flexible, transparent electronics, networked devices and energy storage for electric cars. More information on the forthcoming recearch center can be found in the source link below.
Stanford researchers create 'world's first' all-carbon solar cell, do it on the cheap
Harnessing the awesome power of the Sun isn't just dependent on the efficiency of solar cells, but also on making them affordable. Current techniques aren't exactly cheap, but researchers from Stanford University think they've made a bit of a breakthrough by producing a relatively inexpensive photovoltaic cell using nothing but carbon. We're sure other scientists might disagree with the 'world's first' claim, but those at Stanford think it's a matter of language, and that these other pretenders are "referring to just the active layer in the middle, not the electrodes." The team selected a trio of carbon types to use in their cell: a mixture of nanotubes and buckyballs make up the light-absorbing layer, while graphene is being utilized for the electrodes. The carbon amalgam can be applied from solution using simple methods, meaning the flexible cells could be used to coat surfaces, although you won't be seeing it smeared over anything too soon. The prototype only touts a "laboratory efficiency of less than 1 percent," so it can't compete with traditional solar cells just yet. Also, it only absorbs a sliver of the light spectrum, but the researchers are looking to other forms of the wonder element which could increase that range. They are hoping that improving the structure of the cells will help to boost their efficiency, too. They might never generate the most energy, but the all-carbon cells can remain stable under extreme conditions, meaning they could find their calling in harsh environments where brawn is a little more important than status, or looks.
IBM Labs develops 'initial step' towards commercial fabrication of carbon nanotubes
Commercialization of carbon nanotubes is one of the holy grails of next-gen computing, and IBM thinks it's made crucial steps toward making this a reality. This isn't the first time that we've heard such a claim, of course, but IBM's considerable resources will make this particularly interesting. The specific problem it's been tackling is placing enough semiconducting nanotubes together to be useful in commercial chips, with current attempts being more in the hundreds, rather than billions that would be required. The new approach uses ion-exchange chemistry that allows controlled placement of nanotubes at two orders of magnitude greater than before, with a density of roughly a billion per square centimeter. To achieve this, the nanotubes are mixed with a soap-like substance that makes them water-soluble. Next, a substrate comprising two oxides and a hafnium oxide "trench" is immersed in the soap-solution, which results in the nanotubes attaching to the hafnium oxide canals with a chemical bond. Simple when you think about it! IBM hopes that as the materials and method are readily accessible now, that industry players will be able to experiment with nanotube technology at a much greater scale. Though, as we've become accustomed, there's no solid timescales on when this might realistically unfold.
