Scientists have developed a super-structure of graphene materials

Many scientists believe that graphene is one of the most promising materials ever. Atom thick chains of carbon atoms are strong and light, and have applications in energy storage, pollution removal, water repellent coatings and the like. Although graphene has been under study since the 1940s, scientists have encountered considerable difficulties in constructing them into useful structural forms at the three-dimensional level. But now MIT scientists have figured out how to make graphene useful in three-dimensional shapes, with the potential to be lighter and stronger than steel. New research marks an important step forward for materials. The hexagonal structure is basically "unwound" carbon nanotubes, atomic thickness only, and usually only works on a two-dimensional scale. Despite this limitation, graphene is 100 times more potent than steel, and the conversion of two-dimensional intensity into a structure that can be used for three-dimensional building materials has long been the wish of graphene researchers for many years. Now scientists can make this transition a reality. The Journal of Scientific Progress published the results of the MIT study describing how researchers created a porous three-dimensional graphene material. During the synthesis of graphene, the team added heat and pressure to compress small pieces of graphene together to create a complex cavernous structure of a kind of unicellular algae similar to coral. These structures, though not very dense, have a large surface area and are very strong; one graphene sample has only 5% density of steel but 10 times the strength. Researchers hope they can create useful graphene structures that are actually lighter than air, but found in atomic-scale computer modeling that the structure will be crushed by external air pressure. But scientists did create an enlarged 3D print model of a complex geometry called a spiral that in theory could form the basis of a new class of ultra-strong and lightweight materials that need not even be limited to graphene. "You can replace the material with anything," said study lead author Markus Buehler in a statement at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "Geometry is the dominant factor, and it's possible to change many things." In theory, graphene designed at these microscopic levels using these gyroscopic shapes can be even stronger than the strongest porous graphene material the team can produce. Zhao Qin, a research collaborator, said in a statement: "Once we create these three-dimensional structures, we want to see what the limits are and what is the strongest material we can produce?" Massachusetts Institute of Technology is studying the creation of new scientists such as Andre Geim and Knostantin Novoselov who won the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics for isolating graphene. Since their first release of insulation in 2004, scientists around the world have begun to seriously look out for the practical use of unusual materials. As Pete Spotts wrote in the Christian Science Monitor in October 2010: Graphene is essentially a two-dimensional crystal, neatly arranged in a pattern that looks like chicken fillet. Once the winners showed how to separate a layer of graphene from a piece of graphite, material scientists quickly found their sight. Subsequent work has demonstrated that thin materials that are at least 100 times stronger than steel, conduct electricity more efficiently than copper, are known as highly flexible, transparent materials and are very effective at conducting heat. "Graphene has the potential to change your way of life, just like plastic," said Andre Geim. At the Nobel Committee announcement, he and his colleague Knostantin Novoselov have won a prize of $ 1.5 million. The ability to create a strong gyro on an atomic thin graphene scale may now outweigh any current manufacturing method. But researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology hope some day that the geometrical knowledge gained from the research can be used to create stronger building materials, from personal devices to buildings. Huajian Gao, a professor of engineering at Brown University, said: "The combination of computational modeling and experiments based on 3D printing is a powerful new method used in this article. With the help of 3D printing, in macroscopic experiments, Scale law obtained in the scale of law to reproduce.

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