Even though its two discoverers already share a Nobel
Physics Prize, is graphene that wonder material that’s desperately seeking
commercial applications?
By: Ringo Bones
Even though the properties of this so-called wonder material
is already familiar to materials researchers as far back as 1947, it wasn’t
until the 1970s that two Manchester University physicists, Prof. Andre Geim and
Konstantin Novoselov developed a method to consistently synthesize the
one-atom-thick-carbon wonder material now known as graphene, which eventually
allowed them to share the 2010 Nobel Physics Prize. Given that it is 207 times
stronger than steel and is a very good conductor of heat and electricity, the
wonder material grapheme has defied commercial exploitation because of a lack
of an economically viable way to synthesize and manufacture it, until now.
Known as the “first lady of graphene”, Catharine Paukner,
CEO and founder of Cambridge Nanosystems had recently developed an economically
viable method to produce graphene on a mass scale. Using methane extracted from
communal landfills and cow flatulence, Paukner has managed to convert this
potent greenhouse gas (one molecule methane has 25 times the greenhouse warming
effect of a single molecule of carbon dioxide) into something useful – the famed
wonder material graphene.
Already in the planning stage, Catharine Paukner’s large-scale
methane to graphene plant, based on the workings of a domestic kitchen
microwave oven, will be able to produce 5-metric tons of graphene a year. As a
wonder material with hundreds of potential very lucrative commercial uses since
it was extensively studied in the past 25 years, graphene still elude practical
everyday applications due to the difficulty of producing it in quantity at a
cost-effective manner. Ultra-light carbon composites more than 200 times
stronger than steel for electric powered aircraft applications and replacement
body parts are just some of the commercial applications that could make graphene
production a potential multi-billion dollar a year industry.
1 comment:
The first lady of graphene Catharina Paukner has received a grant of UK£500,000 from the Technology Strategy Board to further expand her "graphene factory". Before she discovered her new method, scientists around the world had been producing graphene at a rate of a ladle-full a year.
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