Aug 28
We’ve heard about plenty of promising electronic applications for miracle material graphene from headphones
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Aug 22
Futurists are always talking about how flexible electronics will change our lives in amazing ways, but we’ve yet to see anything mind-blowing come to market. A team of scientists from the University of Texas in Austin, however, think they’ve found the key to changing that: ultrafast graphene transistors printed on flexible plastic.
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Aug 21
Graphene has the power to change computing forever by making the fastest transistors ever. In theory. We just haven’t figured out how yet. Sound familiar
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Aug 15
Move over graphene; get outta here diamond. There’s a new carbon supermaterial in town, and it’s stronger and stiffer than either of you.
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Jun 13
By now we all know that graphene has tons of potential applications, from virtually no-light camera sensors
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Jun 07
Scientists build soft, transparent contact lens displays with nanomaterials
Posted in: Today's Chili
Of the contact lens display prototypes that we’ve seen so far, few if any are focused on comfort — a slight problem when they’re meant to sit on our eyeballs. A collaboration between Samsung and multiple universities may solve this with display tech that’s meant to be cozy from the start. By putting silver nanowires between graphene layers, researchers have created transparent conductors that can drive LEDs while remaining flexible enough to sit on a contact lens. Current test lenses only have one pixel, but they’re so soft that rabbits can wear them for five hours without strain. Scientists also see the seemingly inevitable, Glass-like wearable display as just one development path — they’re working on biosensors and active vision correction. While there’s still a long way to go before we reach a cyberpunk future of near-invisible displays, we may finally have some of the groundwork in place.
Filed under: Displays, Wearables, Science, Samsung
Source: ACS Publications
May 31
While we’re still scratching around with Ultrapixels and OIS, scientists in Singapore claim they’re working on something that could change the entire field of photography. Researchers at the Nanyang Technological University have developed an image sensor made out of graphene that’s 1,000 times better at capturing light than traditional CMOS or CCD sensors, all while using 10x less energy. These new sensors may initially be used in surveillance equipment and satellites — when they do eventually end up in regular cameras, however, they’re promised to be five times cheaper than the sensors they’re replacing. Combine this with the work being done on graphene batteries, and we’re that much closer to the perfect smartphone.
Filed under: Cameras
Via: C|Net
Source: Science Daily
May 31
For most of us, molecular bonding only really exists as a classroom concept. Some scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory can now claim more tangible knowledge, however: they’re the first to have taken truly clear snapshots of bonding in progress. While trying to create graphene nanostructures and observe them with an atomic force microscope, a lab team spotted molecules forming their individual, atom-level links during a chemical reaction. The resulting shots were nearly textbook material, too — as the molecules were neatly placed on a flat surface, the researchers identified the order and nature of each bond. While the images will only be immediately useful for the nanostructure research at hand, they may add a welcome dash of reality to future chemistry lessons.
Via: Phys.org
May 26
You already know that graphene can be used to make transistors, solar cells and even Sennheiser-quality cans. But if you think that’s about as cool as the carbon material can get, listen to this: It can also be used to make ultrashort-pulse lasers. According to scientists from a smattering of institutions, the atomic-scale chickenwire material has the ability to absorb light effectively — much like a sponge — over a broad range of wavelengths. It can then release the light it absorbs in quick bursts that last a few femtoseconds each (with one femtosecond lasting one millionth of one billionth of a second), which is what ultrashort-pulse lasers do. With graphene as a component instead of traditional materials, scientists could develop a laser as small as a pencil that’s immune to thermal damage typically caused by intense beams. The finished product, if ever someone actually concocts one, could be applied across a variety of fields — everything from pollution monitoring to medicine. For those unafraid of technobabble, there’s plenty more in the source link.
[Image credit: Michaelpkk, Wikimedia]
Source: Nature
Apr 19
Graphene’s Achilles Heel
Posted in: Today's Chili
Graphene is touted as being the supermaterial to beat all supermaterials—but not so fast! Researchers have discovered a weakness that occurs in many sheets of graphene that renders it half as strong as we thought. More »
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