/ News
Breakthrough Research Leads to the 3D Printing of Pure Graphene Nanostructures
Some of you may be tired of me writing at great lengths about the extraordinary properties exhibited by the recently discovered material, graphene. One of the most conductive materials known to man, with strength-to-weight ratios unheard of until recently, the material could play a major role in virtually every industry out there in some form or another.
If you think that I already sound pretty excited, then wait until you hear me talk about the 3D printing of graphene! It’s already been done to some extent. Companies such as Graphene 3D Lab, in which I’ve had the pleasure of meeting their CEO, Daniel Stolyarov last month in California, are at the forefront of this area. With that said, there is a difference between 3D printing pure graphene, and 3D printing a graphene/thermoplastic composites like Graphene 3D has been doing.
While printing with composite materials, using a typical FDM/FFF or powder based laser sintering process, will keep some of graphene’s superior properties intact, most will be lost. The plastic will eventually break down leaving any prints weak, and not much different from a typical object you’d print with a MakerBot Replicator using PLA or ABS filament. Some conductive properties of the graphene will shine through though, but they too will be limited.
Researchers, led by Professor Seung Kwon Seol from Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI), recently published a paper in Advanced Materials called ‘3D Printing of Reduced Graphene Oxide Nanowires‘. In the paper they describe a groundbreaking new process of directly 3D printing pure graphene. This means that 100% graphene nano-structures can be fabricated without the use of any other material. Since the entire printed structure is composed of graphene, the strength, as well as full conductivity of the material is able to be realized.
“So far, to the best of our knowledge, nobody has reported 3D printed nanostructures composed entirely of graphene,” says Seol. “Several results reported the 3D printing (millimeter- or centimeter-scale) of graphene or carbon nanotube/plastic composite materials by using a conventional 3D printer. In such composite system, the graphene (or CNT) plays an important role for improving the properties of plastic materials currently used in 3D printers. However, the plastic materials used for producing the composite structures deteriorate the intrinsic properties of graphene (or CNT).”
Basically, the researchers rely on a meniscus, which is the curve in the upper surface of a liquid close to the surface, which is created inside of a very tiny chemical dropper known as a micropipette. The micropipette is filled with a colloidal dispersion of graphene oxide sheets which are reduced via evaporation by treating it with a chemical (hydrazine) and a rise in temperature. They then need to extrude the graphene oxide from the micropipette which is done simply by pulling the pipette slowly away from the surface as the evaporation takes place. The results were remarkable, free standing graphene oxide which they were able to produce in various arrays of architectures, including bridges, suspended junctions, woven structures and more.
Researchers have also shown that it’s entirely possible to use this technique to 3D print nanostructures out of many different materials as well. Although there is still work to be done, particularly in increasing the process’ production yields, as well as reducing the size of the extruded material to under 10nm, such techniques should further progress within the production of solar cells, sensors, circuit boards, transistors, LEDs an many other items.
Let’s hear your thoughts on this new approach to graphene printing in the 3D Printed Nano Graphene Structure forum thread on 3DPB.com. Check out the video of the process below:
Source: http://3dprint.com/27324/graphene-nano-3d-print/
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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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