Super-thin Graphene Means Super Power

Graphene is a unique material, cheap to produce and many times stronger than steel by weight. But, we haven’t quite figured out how best to use it... yet.

What is the coolest or most exciting thing about graphene that YOU know? Teach us a thing or two! We’re excited to hear what you have to say.

Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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[JonathanFosdickNano]

Graphene *is* where it's at!! I have been tinkering around with it for years and making it every way I can.

[randytravis]

OK! You asked for it.Did you know about graphene super capacitors? Robert Murry Smith has made a mega ferret super capacitor the size of a phone book, and they don't wear out like rechargeable batteries. 2 of these can hold all the power a house uses In a day. That is a huge amount of power storage. Now the wonderful thing about these super capacitors is that they are no were close to being perfected, so even much higher power storage is possible, more than 10x more is possible in the same space. Now the important part. Electricty is a difficult product to deal with. Oil you can store in tanks, coal can just sit out on the ground in piles, but electricity must be used instantly or it is lost! With this advent of graphene super capacitors, vast amount of electric energy can be stored for years on end. Oil will be a thing of the past, because graphene super capacitor batteries will hold 10 to 100 times more energy per pound than gas. Here is another kicker. Energy must still be generated, but there are vast amounts of energy available that could pervide all of the worlds energy needs right now with out any pollution. Ice land has enough easy geo thermal and hydro to power the entire world. If you convert old oil tankers and cargo container ships to carry  giant cargo container sized graphene super capacitors, one ship could power a large city for several weeks with zero carbon emission and for pennys on the dollars compared to burning fossil fules or nucular power.  America even has a huge easly accesable thermal power source, yellow stone national park, a vast volcano. It could be the new Saudi Arabia of the world for cheap easy power and it would make America rich. Want to change the world for the better? Bring this information to light, inspire people to push this idea,  shipping is already being used with oil, why not use the same system with electricity?Imagine China with no smog, imagin no air pollution, no climate change, and it costs less money and we are no longer supporting countries that support terrorism. Ask Robert Murry Smith, he is a leading researcher in graphene, he would be happy to talk to you, I speak with him all the time on his channel and he loves to inform people on the manufacturing of graphene and its uses.Randy.

[doodelay]

Cool art project for graphene:
1. Take some graphene and layer sheets of it so that the layers are as close to one another as possible without touching.
2. Next, run an electric current through the graphene so that all the layers produce their own electric field.
3. Then twist the graphene into a spiral or cylinder, the graphene should then look similar to a rope and the magnetic field will twist with it. Make the graphene spiral very long, about 50 meters.
4. Lastly, throw thousands of small aluminum balls at the graphene spiral and watch them all orbit the twisting spire like a tornado.
It'll be very cool. And if you want to do something large scale and practical, create thousands of graphene sheets that are each half a mile long and 20 miles high. Then take them to the arctic and place them around the arctic continent like a chainlink fence. This will slow the arctic ice melt dramatically as the graphene will stop most of the salt and other material from eroding away the ice below the water. The graphene is strong enough to handle the accumulation loads as the graphene inadvertently becomes a semipermeable membrane that allows water molecules through but keeps the larger salt crystals out.

[TheWrencher]

As a long time listener of How Stuff Works, it's awesome to see John Strickland move forward. He's an outstanding narrator!

[BenCollinsDigital]

The most exciting thing about graphene is that I have some now. Super high quality graphene 1-3 layer flake powder. I've been experimenting with different things and setting up partnerships to see what it can really do. The main thing is that the price is coming down and I expect it to be below $1 a gram in the near future. And a little bit of this stuff goes a long way.

I can say, it's a strange and fascinating material to handle. It seems otherworldly a little.

One thing that is interesting is that in the UK, there is some frustration with large company CEOs who are not taking advantage of the University of Manchester's discovery and creating companies and products. It's a wonder material that is getting easier and easier to make yet no one wants to take the risk of investing in R&D, marketing, etc, except for a few bold ones:

Skeleton Tech is making and selling graphene super capacitors. Also, they have apparently landed some kind of military contract for partly powering an unmanned vehicle.

I've seen oil cleanup sponges with graphene that look VERY promising.

Sunvault is doing some interesting things for sure including solar+battery units and a concept car that will have 1000 pounds of torque.

I have a couple ideas I am working on and I can't wait to find out where it can really be put to use!

[DocWolph]

A number of years ago GE, researching and testing ways to mass produce Graphene effectively. It would be the basis of new building materials and the like. They accidentally found that it could hold an electrical charge. So these engineers went to work on it and found that just a few sheets of Graphene could make a super-capacitor with the storage potential of a LiPo battery but the fast charge and discharge of a conventional capacitor. It is almost superconducting allowing it to handle vat sum of power.

If the models are correct these "Graphene supercapacitors" (google the term), they can handle electricity almost like a sponge can handle water.

As it is, GE has a real target for their research into Graphene. A technology that might render batteries, as we know them, obsolete.

"We can build anything. We just need to figure out how to power it." With this we can build quite a few more things.

[wisikahn]

Been trying to find a school to learn Graphene application/commercialization where tuition is almost free in Europe somewhere... I subscribe your channel because you explain it easy way..thank you

[dinh.]

+FW: thinking should definitely make a video on Orion Project. It is a must. Sincerely.

[reginaldfrost]

"We're talking hoverboards people."

*Sits back in chair: Oh. My God.

[keenansisson]

I recommend looking up a company called graphoid. From what I understand they are looking into a lot of the practical applications such as making all around better structural materials for buildings and vehicles, developing a graphene battery, and making body armor that is equal to wearing six inches of heavy armor (basically like wearing an armored vehicle). They seem to really understand the real world applications of graphene and be making a difference (at least I hope they are).

[JonathanFosdickNano]

A room-temperature superconducting wire would be a game changer. That is why many researchers also are working with using light. Certain nanowires are ballistic conductors in which electrons are only allowed to travel in an one-dimensional line, and by keeping the electricity flowing this way removes resistance since resistance is where the electrons bounce off atoms and loose energy changing directions and vibrating the atoms as heat. Most materials will increase resistance when the heat increases, but not graphene. Adding lithium into the voids between the rings of carbon onto one side of a sheet of graphene under low temperatures (to keep the single lithium atoms in place) is how the researchers were able to make graphene superconducting.

[DManLewis]

I CANT wait for graphene to become big!!!!

[joyyan]

Look at the graphene structure, 6 points, 6 lines, and many of these sixes. That's the mark of the beast 666

[Unboundedominion]

Coolest thing I heard about graphene was a sheet of it like plastic Saran wrap could with stand about a ton of force in the shape of a pencil before busting. Real amazing.

[WonderzStevey]

Please cover the ITER project, This project needs more public awareness. Great video as always!

[jason]

The coolest possible use for graphene imo, is using them as nano sized receivers for nano bots, making their creation much easier since they wouldn't need to carry around a micro sized receivers in order to communicate with the controller and each other.

[Etheoma]

The coolest thing I know is that you can use graphene to filter different elements very efficiently, and I don't know if you know about Molten Salt Reactors there basically a safer cleaner fission reactors. Anyway with graphene you can pull out fission products with minimal effort meaning 2 things the cost of the plant goes WAY down as in an MSR (Molten Salt Reactor) your main operating cost is filtering out the fission products so it means cheaper running costs.

The second is that a lot of these fission products are very useful and if you are already filtering them individually you can get these fission products without adding any cost to running the reactor, in fact because you would be able to sell the fission products it would actually increase the profitability of the plant.

[HomeSkillenSLICE]

I always love these types of miracle energy/battery type videos. I know they'll never come, or not never come but come in like 20 years but its always cool to see these videos being made and hyping it up like we're close lol. I hope it comes soon though :/

[freex]

If you really want an education on practical graphene then try this PhD
Robert Murray Smith's channel

He wrote a book on it and has worked with carbon for years and shows how to make it at home and some ways to apply it and even make a killer super capacitor.

The coolest thing I think about graphene is filtering the hydrogen out of the air, and using graphene in a fuel cell instead of platinum. Sunvault and Smith are talking an Electric car using graphene to store the power, and a few gallons of water as a fuel. Graphene is beyond peoples wildest dreams in what it is like and can do and is virtually everywhere, since it is just carbon. It is many times harder than diamonds for example but lighter than air. 100-200 times stronger than steel. Conducts heat 6-12 times better than copper. Conducts electricity many times better than copper, and on and on it goes.

How about graphene paint, inks, tires, car bodies, solar cells, or in the body to find and kill cancer cells. Graphene, nano tubes, and C60 are all carbon and closely related. C60 which is a single molecule of carbon is something else in the body all by itself. When mixed up with olive oil and given to mice they lived much longer than normal and none developed cancers. Other mice when given it in water became very very resistant to radiation damage and death, from lethal dosages of radiation.

Want to reduce friction down to almost zero try nano diamonds plus graphene. It is a very big subject and getting bigger every day as every country on earth wants in this game. China currently holds about 33% of the worlds patents on it.

This is going to be fun LOL

[davidsirmons]

MWCNTs are my focus. Currently pondering how to fund a small startup company for making carbon nanotube based muscle bundles, via standard bulk textile processes. Wish me luck.