It's Super Paper!

ScienceNOW Daily News ^ | 25 July 2007 | Phil Berardelli

[neverdem]

Presto chango!
Dumping graphene oxide particles in water (top) causes them to begin binding together spontaneously into superstrong sheets.
Credit: Rod Ruoff

Researchers have developed a remarkably simple way to convert ordinary graphite particles into very thin but superstrong sheets that are tougher than steel and as flexible as carbon fiber but can be made much more cheaply. The discovery could spawn entirely new types of materials for applications as diverse as protective coatings, electronic components, batteries, and fuel cells.

For tensile strength and stiffness, carbon is king. So it's no surprise that scientists have been working for years to develop ways to add Element 6 to composite materials for aircraft fuselages, military vehicles, and even racing bicycles and tennis rackets. Even bigger payoffs are possible by constructing carbon materials at microscopic scales, yielding the strongest materials of all. Researchers have made some progress building structures called carbon nanotubes--whose single-layer atomic structure is tightly bound and therefore super rigid--but the tubes are expensive to manufacture and so far can only be used in tiny amounts.

Now, a research team from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, has assembled particles of graphene oxide, a form of graphite and a cousin of diamonds, into very thin sheets that are even stronger than those made of the nanotubes. The process works like this: the team disperses graphene oxide particles in specially treated water and then draws the mixture through a filter membrane. The water somehow causes the particles to bind into a paperlike layer on the filter's surface, the researcher reports in tomorrow's Nature. "We actually don't know all of the details of how the layering takes place," says physical chemist and co-author Rod Ruoff. Laboratory tests showed that the grapheme paper was as strong as that made from carbon nanotubes, yet unlike nanotubes, the material can be fabricated to any size. That makes graphene paper a prime candidate for a new generation of superstrong composite materials, Ruoff says.

The super paper does have its kryptonite, however. The sheets remain stable when exposed to air, says Ruoff, but immersing them in water slowly loosens the bonds. Also, says materials scientist Boris Yakobson of Rice University in Houston, Texas, because water is so common as either liquid as rain or vapor as humidity, it will likely affect graphene sheets exposed to the environment in the long run if the material can't be protected from water's effects. So, the next task is to find other molecules that can replace water in the fabrication process. That research challenge and others probably puts commercialization of the technology at least 5 or 10 years away, Ruoff says.

[neverdem]

More on graphene oxide paper abstract with pics, graphs

[Uriah_lost]

Do we have a space elevator solution here? I’m using the concept in a story and it would be nice if I could use this to explain it. I hate having to use Star Trekian “techno-babble”.

[Pontiac]

So, the next task is to find other molecules that can replace water in the fabrication process.

I am not sure that replacing water in the fabrication process would resolve the papers vulnerability to water.

[neverdem]

Do we have a space elevator solution here?

How about applications in deserts?

[Uriah_lost]

I would put my money on a coating or treatment to solidify the bonds. Perhaps a chemical agent....or even heating. A hydrophobic additive might do the trick.

[elephantlips]

Sheryl Crow needs to hear about this. Imagine, with
just one sheet....

[DB]

As long as it doesn’t rain...

[neverdem]

Pot may hike risk of psychosis, research finds

Obesity is a virus (get rid of your fat friends)

The Spread of Obesity in a Large Social Network over 32 Years FReebie

The results section said: "The spread of smoking cessation did not account for the spread of obesity in the network."

I'll have to read the whole article. The Lancet is down for maintenance. Re: the pot article, and an author search at PubMed yields no current results for the first link.

P.S. PubMed has a new URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=PubMed

FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.

[tightwadbob]

Sounds a lot like the material description from Roswell incident.

[Kozak]

Do we have a space elevator solution here? I’m using the concept in a story and it would be nice if I could use this to explain it. I hate having to use Star Trekian “techno-babble”.

Might want to check the weather before you hop on for a ride...

[BigCinBigD]

Ping me when they invent transparent aluminum.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Until it gets wet, then the bonds break down - The sabotage to the space elevator is by breakdown of the “paint” (coating/insulation) and exposure of the inside fabric to humidity.

[alexander_busek]

>>Do we have a space elevator solution here? I’m using the concept in a story and it would be nice if I could use this to explain it. I hate having to use Star Trekian “techno-babble”.<<

There is no moisture in the vacuum of space. A space elevator (”beanstalk”) need not reach all the way down to the Earth’s surface, i.e., it need not be tethered to the ground. It could “stop” 20 km above the Earth’s surface.

Alternative solution: Reconfigure the deflector array and expose the graphene oxide to a beam of anti-tachyons.

[battlegearboat]

"Reconfigure the deflector array and expose the graphene oxide to a beam of anti-tachyons"

Also, routinely check the tire pressure and don't forget the spare.

[johnny7]

What’s its half-life?

[docbnj]

Any structure made of this stuff, such as a space elevator, could be destroyed by islamic terrorists or environmental wackos armed only with water pistols!

[docbnj]

I used to think that a space elevator was a crazy idea, but now I am not so sure. After all, I have to get out of New Jersey somehow.

[GAB-1955]

If a space elevator was based in New Jersey, you’d have to stop every 200 miles to pay a quarter.

[ImaGraftedBranch]

Note to self: Do not flush these particles if you want to keep your septic tank.

[RipSawyer]

A hydrophobic additive might do the trick
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

A rabid accountant, maybe?