How Graphene Could Solve Our Concrete Problem

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00:00 Introduction
01:32 What is graphene?
03:29 Graphene cables
04:10 Graphene films
04:28 Graphene paint
06:00 Graphene cement
08:44 Graphene battery
10:18 Graphene production
12:25 Conclusion

[gregalee]

My concern about graphene is its long term impact on the environment. We know, for instance, that precautions must be taken when handling graphene to prevent it becoming airborne and being inhaled. In sheet form, it is relatively stable and inert, but when we embed nanomaterials in products that wear, like the soles of footwear, vehicle tires, or concrete, we have to assume it is going to enter the environment on a very small scale during their slow breakdown.

According to the European Commission adopted 2011 Recommendation on Nanomaterials: Fullerenes, graphene flakes and single wall carbon nanotubes with one or more external dimensions below 1nm should be considered as nanomaterials.

We all know what a nightmarish threat earlier nanomaterials like asbestos, finely powdered silicates, and even today with micro plastic particles were all discovered to pose long after their adoption in industrial and consumer products. In addition to simple inhalation risks which are relatively low in the outdoors, researchers said that (as with asbestos and coal dust, and other smooth, continuous, biopersistent particles) graphene can enter the body and may have the ability to instigate tumour growth.

There is minimal reliable environmental data on graphene regarding its bioaccumulation or mobility in environmental media.

The way I see it, we need to do our due diligence researching and vetting these materials for long term environmental and human health impacts before we turn to them as a panacea for our carbon emission problems.

[JohnDewar]

When you describe the benefits of graphene in concrete it really sounds very similar to the benefits of mixing in asbestos. Given the tiny particle sizes I hope someone stops to do a cost benefit analysis on potential health impacts and the impact of future abatement strategies and costs before this gets widely deployed. I feel like industry would love to spread millions and millions of tons of this stuff around before safety regulators catch on. Carbon nanotubes have the same problem I see people playing with it like the ultra black paints which are super cool but fragile and I saw a study comparing the inhalation risk in rats of nanotubes vs asbestos and it was at least as bad but likely worse. It makes intuitive sense that nanoscale indestructible fibers would not be good for our lungs.

[tomdalton]

Graphene in my mind has moved from disappointing Back to exciting me, maybe because I dropped my expectations from when I first heard of it. I think now we have the right ideas for it, let graphene improve do all the little things that it can improve and as it’s use scales up it will start to do everything we thought it could . We all wanted the grand slams but to get there we need a few singles to load the bases! Another great posting Matt

[opexe]

For me, graphene was never unexciting. The issue with graphene is mostly that journalists and others basically imagined that it could be made, and integrated into our society in an extremely unrealistic timeframe. Heck even if you had the technology just the time required to build a factory would've fallen short on their unrealistic projections, thus people got convinced that it was all hype and no substance.

Conversely my takeaway has mostly been that it WILL be amazing, but that we need to scale production first, something which it looks like is genuinely happening now.

[TonkarzOfSolSystem]

8:43 Something not mentioned is that stronger concrete means less concrete is needed overall, this reduces the overall CO2 output per structure. Also means that buildings can have smaller support elements which means structures can have more usable space.

[sereneturmoil]

This is an exciting area of research and application. I actually recently became friends with someone who moved to our small town and works for a company developing graphene additive based concrete solutions utilizing low grade graphene. They've determined that the graphene dramatically decreases drying/setting time, increases strength and durability all the while reducing production costs and environmental impact. It seems very promising and is a cool new(ish) area of material research.

[gtmaction]

I've been working with First Graphene products for 18mth and developing a Graphene enhanced shotcrete which has proved to have not just good strength, but also very good workability properties. Thanks for making this video and sharing how Graphene is making great progress as a new and exciting material.

[Nighthawkinlight]

The CO deposition method is interesting. I wonder how they go about separating from the copper substrate. One note is the supposed elimination of explosive gasses is inaccurate. CO is a highly flammable and explosive gas. Of course you'll be long dead from poisoning before it reaches the lower explosive limit in a room.

[moodtherapist]

An interesting primer for the uninitiated but it’s a shame Versarien hasn’t registered on your Graphene Radar (even though you actually used some footage of a concrete pour using their graphene!). Not only is their graphene being commercially used in pours regularly now but their own proprietary mix ‘Cementene’ is about to revolutionise 3D printing of buildings and is set to be used in the HS2 high speed rail system in the UK. Oh, and did I mention that they are also already producing large sheet, defect free CVD sheets in collaboration with their partners Graphene Lab in South Korea? Throw in a new range of Graphene-wear clothing for Umbro and SuperDry, tires specially formulated for higher torque EVs with Enso, amongst other projects and you can start to see they are a name to watch…

[nonsuch]

I suspect that graphene will be one of those products that becomes more and more useful in more and more products. However the expectations set by the over-hyping will lead many people to always feel that it has fallen short of expectations never mind the fact that it might end up making huge differences where it finds a foothold. It will always feel too little too late.

[ferfromla]

From what you presented here, graphene in concrete is one of the first uses that not only makes sense but can be manufactured at scale. If concrete can be made more environmentally friendly, robust, durable, and lighter, it will bring significant benefits to builders everywhere. It will probably take years to develop practical applications for the stuff that remains in the lab. Nevertheless, labs worldwide continue to research, and eventually, a breakthrough will happen that will fulfill the promise of this fantastic material. I appreciate your keeping us current with all that is happening in this space.

[BOK-]

I’m gratified to see that graphene is making its way into commercial products at this time. And I’m excited for the possibilities that it holds for our near future, and beyond.

[billviolette]

Rice Labs also has an incredible graphene production method called flash joule heating, that not only produces graphene from any plastic materials but also elemental hydrogen and oxygen. They've already tested the method with Ford motors and created a close to perfectly circular recycling process

[colindavidson]

For years (decades) laser was considered a brilliant solution for which noone knew the problem. Today society is totally dependent on the lasers embedded in most of our electronics and communications. Sometimes a new technology needs a few improvements before widespread adoption is possible. For lasers, a key development was the semi-conductor laser. For graphene, it may be a cheap, realiable, consistently high-quality production method.

[jimjernigan]

For CO2 savings from improvements in concrete, you missed an opportunity to explain how improvements in compression and tensile strength drastically reduces the amount of concrete needed for a given project. If you need less because it’s stronger, then you also need less because the project weighs less. It’s a virtuous cycle. It would be interesting to see it quantified by a structural engineer.

[wstavis]

In an age of both wonder and instant gratification, we often overlook some simple facts that much older generations understood: progress actually takes time. The fact that you are talking about a two year time frame from the first video about graphene's potential, to actual products using graphene is mind boggling, not disappointing. Graphene has not been over hyped, all of the potential applications are still potential applications, what has happened is over expectations of ease of development. A few years ago, it wasn't even known how to make commercial quantities of graphene. Now it's sold in bulk. Some of the other problems will be solved soon also because it is so potentially profitable and life altering for humanity.

[pauljacobs]

I am surprised you didn't mention the "Flash Graphene" process developed by Rice University that produces high quality graphene from waste material cheaply. This has the potential to produce graphene and solve much of our waste problems at the same time, without the chemicals usually required for many existing production methods.

[billkemp]

Matt, have you heard of anyone doping aluminum with graphene? Aluminum is 60% as conductive as copper and so if aluminum could become as conductive as copper it would massively alter the market.

[Mister_Vintage]

Finding simple and ubiquitous uses (like better concrete) will drive the incentive to ramp production and reduce costs. Looking forward to having a graphene tent over my home to keep hail from destroying it.

[austinbambooinc]

A relatively unexplored subject is the relationship between graphene, carbon nanotubes, and bamboo charcoal. Also, well not on the nanoscale, Bamboo fiber can also be used to drastically reinforced concrete, and minimize cracking.