How Graphene Affects Electronics, Medicine, and Green Energy
In the world of science, graphene has made a whole revolution: more than 50 thousand patents with this material have been registered in the world, more than 50% of them belong to China. It is used in almost all areas to improve the properties of the material. Hi-Tech understands how graphene is taking over our lives and changing the future.
Graphene is used in electronics, water purification, medicine, and even solar panels.
What is graphene and what are its properties?
Graphene is a substance made of pure carbon, which is made in the form of sheets that are one atom thick. Graphene is 200 times stronger than steel, and it’s also flexible like rubber. In addition, it efficiently conducts electricity and heat.
Graphene is not a natural substance. Physicists theoretically described its properties as early as the 1960s, but it was not until 2004 that it was obtained for the first time. At the time graphene was created, its production methods were very expensive, but researchers manage to keep costs down. Therefore, graphene is going to be used in a large number of areas: in medicine, electronics for the production of computer technology and others.
The double bond between carbon atoms, combined with the thin atomic thickness, explains the special properties of graphene. Its ability to efficiently conduct electricity and heat is thought to be due to its small and strong carbon bonds.
Graphene is a substance made of pure carbon, which is made in the form of sheets that are one atom thick. Graphene is 200 times stronger than steel, and it’s also flexible like rubber. In addition, it efficiently conducts electricity and heat.
What is the advantage of graphene?
Graphene can be used as a raw material for the production of a wide range of products. The main advantages of the material are that it has a high conductivity – 200 times more than silicon, conducts heat efficiently and is thin enough to be considered a two-dimensional material.
Graphene is transparent, strong, light, flexible, and yet retains conductivity.
Is graphene dangerous to health?
It depends on how it is produced. Today, high-quality graphene is used in bioelectronics, which was obtained using chemical vapor deposition. In this case, the material cannot be toxic, since it does not interact with cells.
The researchers also conducted work in which they grew cells on graphene and on ordinary glass. It turned out that they grew much more actively on graphene, due to its biocompatibility.
Where is graphene already being used?
Graphene is widely used in electronics. Physicists at MIT have created a graphene-based superconductor that works even in strong magnetic fields. This discovery is going to be used to create super-powerful MRI systems and quantum computers that are ideally protected from interference.
Graphene can also be used instead of indium, a rare element used in touch devices. Researchers have created an OLED device out of graphene and found that it works just as efficiently as analogs made with indium tin oxide.
Researchers at MIT have made ultra-thin material out of white graphene to optimally store memory. The developers note that the device works stably even after a while. It is noted that the thickness of the material is several nanometers.
A team of US scientists has created a hardware security device out of graphene. The developers note that due to the physical and electrical properties of graphene, the device has become more energy efficient and protected from AI attacks.
Graphene is widely used in electronics. MIT physicists have created a graphene-based superconductor that works even in strong magnetic fields.
Where will we use graphene in the future?
• The medicine
In the chapter on toxicity, we already mentioned that graphene is biocompatible, so one of the potential areas for its use is medicine. Researchers say graphene could help diagnose and treat cancer. It is planned to create a chip with graphene to make devices more sensitive.
So far, it is impossible to say exactly when graphene bioelectronics will be widely used. Researchers are already testing neurodevices, biosensors and other projects in laboratories.
• Solar panels
Another promising area for the use of graphene is the production of green energy. For example, an international group of scientists is developing hybrid two-dimensional structures with graphene and quantum dots. They want to create a structure with controlled optical and photoelectric properties. It is planned to be used for solar panels. Engineers want to get a device that will work more efficiently than analogues.
• Water desalination
Other MIT researchers have shown that graphene oxide foam can be used to filter uranium in drinking water. As a result, filtered water has passed EPA standards. The filtration lasted several hours. It is noted that the foam can be reused.
• Smart clothes
Scientists from the US have made clothing from graphene oxide: it can protect the wearer from insects. According to the researchers, mosquitoes cannot sting through the resulting material. The fact is that the proboscis of insects cannot pass even the thinnest layer of graphene, and the material does not transmit chemical signals by which mosquitoes determine the victim.
Another promising area for the use of graphene is the production of green energy.
So far, the production of graphene is still an expensive process, and complex electronic devices with the addition of this material are made by hand. Also, its production has not yet been established, so graphene is used pointwise in various fields.
