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An ultralight graphene structure for all seasons
Chemists in China claim to have created the lightest graphene framework to date. The material, which is light enough to rest on a dandelion seed head, is also fire resistant and has record-breaking adsorption and capacitance.
The development of ultralight materials has exploded in recent years. Last year, engineers in the US presented a material made of hollow metallic tubes in a micro-lattice. With a density of 0.9mg/cm3, the material was 100 times lighter than styrofoam. Yet that record was beaten in July, when material scientists in Germany produced what they called aerographite: a network of carbon microtubes with a density of just 0.2mg/cm3.
Although the latest material, which has a density of 2.1mg/cm3, does not approach these records, it is the lightest graphene framework to date. Graphene, which took the 2010 Nobel prize for physics, is a two-dimensional layer of graphite just one atom thick arranged in a chickenwire pattern. Importantly, graphene has superlative electrical and mechanical properties, which scientists are eager to capitalise on.
Liangti Qu at the Beijing Institute of Technology, China, with colleagues from there andTsinghua University, also in Beijing, have developed their graphene framework by regulating the graphene’s carbon–carbon bonds, using nitrogen as a dopant. To make their material they treat an aqueous suspension of graphene oxide with pyrrole – an aromatic, nitrogen-containing compound – in a steam oven. The pyrrole acts as a ‘swelling agent’, preventing the graphene oxide from self-stacking so that a large framework can be formed. The process leaves a gel, which the researchers freeze dry and then anneal at high temperatures.
Lighter than a feather
The resultant material has the dark appearance of graphite but, like the other ultralight materials unveiled in the past year, is light enough to rest on a dandelion seed head. Scanning electron microscope images reveal that the lightness stems from numerous pores, made rigid by a graphene skeleton.
From an applications point of view, however, the lightness is not the most important feature. The material is fire resistant and able to withstand repeated burning without suffering any structural damage. It can adsorb between 200 and 600 times its own weight of oil or other non-polar liquids – a record for carbon-based materials. Finally, the material can generate a capacitance of over 480F/g, approaching the theoretical limit for pure graphene.
‘We think this new material stands for an exciting advance because it has presentedhigh performance in several areas superior to many other carbon materials, although the density may not be the lowest among them,’ says Qu.
Materials scientist Rainer Adelung at Kiel University in Germany thinks the material could be used as a supercapacitor, or for mopping up oil spills. He says its potential depends on the volume in which it can be made; at the moment the volume is small, but the fabrication process is ‘very simple’. ‘In principle it’s scalable,’ he adds.
But while the material’s lightness may be enough for some applications, for others it may indicate poor structural stability and mechanical properties, says Hui-Ming Cheng at the Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science in China. ‘It seems to be a very nice material which may have promising applications … if it has good structural stability,’ he says.
Video: http://youtu.be/vOBARWhshvk
Video: http://youtu.be/K0XT2_HpLfE
Source: http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/2012/10/graphene-lightest-framework-oil-clean-flame-resistant
/ About us
Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.
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