How The World's Strongest Material Is Made From Coffee Grounds (Flash Graphene)

In this video we explore the recently discovered process for creating flash graphene: the first economical method to make high quality turbostratic graphene in bulk. Using this method it's possible to convert nearly any carbon source (recycled materials, coal, carbon black, etc.) directly into graphene.

Here are two excellent videos demonstrating the electrochemical exfoliation method for producing graphene in bulk:

-Ben

[luongxuanduy]

Thank you Ben for the great demonstration. These type of DIY demonstration was my inspiration for the discovery. Keep up good work! By the way, you might want to pretreat the coffee at multiple lower voltage treatments first to remove the organic volatile before the real flash.

[thethoughtemporium]

First, off I wanna say great video. But I looked up the paper and have some huge concerns. I've actually done a lot of work with graphene and what they're demonstrating is... odd. And frankly seems a bit cherry picked. Things that are interesting: ease of dispersability, and the seeming strength increase when added to stuff. Things I find concerning: those electron microscope pictures and some key notes.

When you look at the microscope images, and then their simulations, what they've made isn't really graphene per say, and especially not graphene in an ideal form. Graphene at it's strongest are big flat sheet. What they made are weird onion shaped chunks. At least, in the images they chose to show. In that mixture there's very very likely to be various other carbon materials; nanotubes, other fullerenes, carbon onions, and random amorphous debris. They did no purification to remove any of that stuff and when mixed into a solution, it'll all just look black. Only a few fullerenes have a distinct color in solution. So mixing it with a solvent will look like you've made a graphene solution when in reality it's just shmoo floating around. In fact, when you look at the cuvettes of "graphene solution", they look more than 50% full of sediment, with only a very small amount of liquid on top.

This could explain the strength increase, but also the error bars on that test are fricken massive, their sample size is 3, and they use a weird surfactant to dissolve the "graphene" which they have no negative control to compare to. Like there's no concrete sample with just the surfactant and no graphene. So either the mismash of components is what's making it strong, or the surfactant is, or they just didn't run the test enough times, or any of 100 other reasons that sample looked stronger.

ALSO, they show a side by side comparison of "commercial graphene" vs FG. Why... is the commercial sample clear? Like not just clear, but with no sediment at the bottom? To me that screams "one of these vials just has water in it because we didn't add anything to it". Because any commercial sample should dissolve at least a little, and the rest would sink to the bottom. Unless they're showing supernatant? I dunno, very weird. Also the way they're solubilizing things is odd. They're using this weird surfactant pluronic 127 which I'd never heard of but I suspect makes things appear a lot more "soluable" or at least dispersable than they really are.

Further, saying "graphite is the 3d form" isn't really accurate. Graphene are big 2d sheets of carbon. Graphite is simple those sheets stacked up. If anything, the stuff they made is the "3d" form because it's a jumbled mess of interconnected layers and closer to amorphous carbon. This will make it utterly useless at being turned into fibers as you won't get the large sheets forming a liquid crystal in solution which is required for that. Also they don't talk about the oxygen content of the "graphene". If what they made was highly oxidized, then that alone explain why it's soluable in water. Graphene oxide is already water soluable. I've got a bottle of it. So if that's what they made, then it explains some of it's weirder properties.

All in all, none of this is NOT a criticism of your video. The video was great. But their paper to me, was super super sloppy and leaves a lot of unanswered questions. Especially when it comes to things like graphene, there's a lot of really crappy research that turns out to be useless on further study.

[Nighthawkinlight]

You guys remember when I was making videos about paper crossbows?

[KFlyguy]

I wish you had been my neighbor when I was a kid! My dad didn't have time nor was interested in my questions as a kid. I saved up money from walking beans and mowing grass for a high quality microscope, and then put together a seriously awesome chemistry set. I successfully made nitroglycerin, built a smelter and refined gun range lead, made ingots of aluminum cans and various junk metals found around the neighborhood, I made hydrogen and oxygen for various burning and oxidation experiments, made chemical fertilizer for my garden and never blew my family's basement! Moved on to making various solar concentrators, cookers, burners and such. Got into magnetism, electronics and radio wave theory. My point is information presented in the way you present it was not available back then to but a very few lucky kids with overachiever dad's. Thank you for doing the teaching you are doing! You may well inspire and help some young inquiring minds to further explore areas of research and be the genesis of new technologies! Subscribed and liked! Thank you again, well done!!!

[Frendh]

I am more impressed by Rice Labs sharing this information than them discovering it.

[tfconfirmedbuthv]

-Coffee addict

-Electronics Hobbyist

“Oh yeah, it’s all coming together”

[Pyrosparker]

This kind of project just screams Applied Science, he's even got the microscope needed to see the end result. Someone get him on this bandwagon too!

[robotslug]

Uh oh, graphene optimism. You really painted that target on your back brightly with this one. ;)

[nickg]

Saw that giant capacitor bank (a major flex) and clicked immediately. In another era, you'd be the top show on PBS. Amazing production value of consistently amazing videos.

[BuckeyeNut]

This is my preferred style of content: Immediately get into the material and cover it in a very straightforward and easy to follow form.

Thank you.

[TaylorIserman]

I’d love to see a part 2 where he uses the capacitor bank and tests blocks of concrete to show the difference

[Agapy]

Love your videos. Clear, precise and free of annoying music.

[pocket]

In your reading, did you find any alternatives to carbon for producing a substance with similar properties? I mean, there are tons of other hexagonal atomic configurations. If we're so hung up on using carbon every time, we might be overlooking a (probably still difficult) possibility that could at least work until we crack the case. It's just a logical precept that if everyone's stuck in a doorway, maybe it's prudent to go around.
Sorry to offer up lateral thinking as though it were an original idea. lol.

I once worked with an engineer who believed it probable that life on other planets would be boron-based. Garbage speculation if you ask me, but who knows? Simple geometries can give rise to some incredibly divergent emergent properties. Either case, congratulations on becoming one of the bright spots here on YouTube; using this medium for furthering the experimental cusp is some seriously solid content. Mad respect, and keep tinkering ;)

[haidandurham]

This channel (and I've been saying this for years) is an ever expanding repertoire of knowledge. I hope yt is still a thing in 20 years so I can show my kids all these amazing content creators.

[redcastlefan]

I think most of us cant even begin to comprehend how it feels to live through a big world changing advancement. It must be so wild and jarring. Imagine how people felt about electronics at first. Im glad that I just might be able to experience a great leap in humanity in my lifetime.

[WestOfEarth]

This is what Youtube and the internet were made for! This channel is superb.

[socketman]

You know you're going to have to do a batch of flash graphine infused starlite now right?

[kevingouldrup]

The most exciting development I've heard in a long time!

[jerickodoggo]

Whoa! Yeah, just sat down with my cup of coffee. Perfect!

[doomedfromthesmart]

thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
Off to the drawing board!
This will combo with the geet plasma refinery I made!
Now I can direct the excess carbon BEFORE the main chamber gaining the graphine before it hits the plasma and dematerializes. This allows the engine to operate as a generator and production machine! And I'm currently running it off just air. For 17 months now it's never turned off once, uses air as fuel, and produces more oxygen as waste than three forests annually. It's been an un-upgradable system for too long. Extra money printer/construction resource refinery! Here I come 😁!

To those wondering, no the geet normally doesn't run off air. I had to work three years to tune it to intake enough larger gaseous molecules to break into workable sub elements, then make whatever fuel I was aiming for, then use the reactor to waste only oxygen molecules while returning anything else for plasma continuation. The free pdf anyone can download runs on nearly any liquid. I tuned mine to run on any gaseous mix.