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World's First Single-Atom-Thick Fabric

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the barely-there dept.

neutron_p writes "Researchers at The University of Manchester have made the world's first single-atom-thick fabric, which reveals the existence of a new class of materials and may lead to computers made from a single molecule. They call it graphene, because it's 'webbed' by extraction of individual planes of carbon atoms from graphite crystal. The nanofabric belongs to the family of fullerene molecules, which were discovered during the last two decades, but is the first two-dimensional fullerene."

22 of 390 comments (clear)

  1. Can it cut things? by CoreyGH · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Seriously, does this mean the edge of the fabric is really sharp? Can it cut through stuff?

    1. Re:Can it cut things? by Amiga+Lover · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I want to know, if you had a sheet of this stuff about 1cm by 1cm... could you see it? does light permeate it? refract off it in rainbows?

    2. Re:Can it cut things? by nels_tomlinson · · Score: 4, Interesting
      ... does this mean the edge of the fabric is really sharp?

      Can you keep it stiff? Paper will cut you if you can keep it stiff enough to slide your finger along the edge with a little pressure, but silk cloth of the same thickness won't because it isn't stiff.

      If you can figure out a way to make it rigid, you'll have a nifty new razor blade.

      --
      See what I've been reading.
    3. Re:Can it cut things? by MillionthMonkey · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Fullerenes conduct electricity, so its refractive index is most likely negative and it would be opaque if it were thicker. But the skin depth is on the order of a micron so individual fullerene sheets are transparent.

    4. Re:Can it cut things? by k98sven · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Seriously, does this mean the edge of the fabric is really sharp? Can it cut through stuff?

      Nope. It's not rigid.

      But.. if you could add a layer on top of that layer, juxtaposed by the minimal amount (half of a ring, see this picture of graphite crystal structure), and then add another layer, and another..

      Then you could form a 'perfectly sharp' knife.

      I'm not sure how durable it'd be though, because the inter-layer bonds in graphite are rather weak.

    5. Re:Can it cut things? by Mattcelt · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Maybe I'm wrong here, but doesn't refraction have to do with the absorption and re-emission of photons by atoms? It's my understanding that the presence of a color means that all other wavelengths have been absorbed by the material, leaving only those that constitute the color in question. So isn't this subject to the same inherent photon-manipulating characteristics as other carbon atoms?

      What am I missing here?

    6. Re:Can it cut things? by Chrispy1000000+the+2 · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Actually, more likely than not, it would itch, as it would get under the skin and stuff. As it's carbon, it might actually get rid of the oders. But all of this is eclipsed by the fact that it would probably cause cancer, like almost all current nano-technology. (Buckyballs anyone?)

      --
      Sig
  2. Would someone be allergic to it? by Dancin_Santa · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Something that small and fine could possibly become airborne and eventually irritate allergic responses.

    Not to mention that consumption of the material could lead to carcinogenic effects.

    Before we start throwing around phrases like "wonder material" and "the future is now", perhaps we should take a closer look at the health risks involved in making/using these practically invisible materials.

    1. Re:Would someone be allergic to it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      your not allergic to the carbon atoms in the cat hair. your allergic to the dust/dandruff (other atoms) that are on the cat hair.

    2. Re:Would someone be allergic to it? by Sir+Holo · · Score: 5, Interesting


      Something that small and fine could possibly become airborne and eventually irritate allergic responses.

      Nah, it has to be micron-scale (1000x larger) for your lungs to recognize it as foreign, and eject it. Like it does with dust.

      Not that that's a good thing. People get asbestosis and silicosis for just this reason. Sharp particles that are beneath detection become embedded. And if they aren't broken down and stay sharp, they cut, cut, cut at the cellular level for the rest of your life.

      As for graphene becoming airborne, lodging in the lungs, and never breaking down, who knows?

  3. can you tear this? by the_2nd_coming · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I mean, the fabrics we know can be torn because the atoms are clumped into partitions that we shove together, but this fabric is one layer of chemically bonded carbon atoms. that is some tough stuff.

    --



    I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
  4. Re:Whoo Hoo! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    The condom industry is interested...

  5. Re:Didn't RTFA... by toddestan · · Score: 4, Interesting

    They say in the FA that the fabric is "highly flexible and strong". But they only have samples roughly 10 microns large at this point, and the article doesn't really give any indication how well this will scale up. What I really want to know is if this stuff is airtight, or even watertight. If it is, I wonder if it would have any use in creating an ultralight spaceship?

  6. Re:Didn't RTFA... by Solder+Fumes · · Score: 4, Interesting

    As far as sitting inside a hull one atom thick...be my guest. But maybe one application would be creating insanely large solar sails that fold up extremely small. You could even carry lots of spares.

  7. Not clothes; laminates by mrchaotica · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Sounds like even stronger and lighter carbon fiber to me...

    Also, I wonder: could it be an even better material for the space elevator ribbon than nanotubes? After all, "ribbon" (which is how they describe the elevator cable in the articles I've read) suggests a flat string rather than a round one.

    --

    "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

  8. massively useful by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I want a 1m^2 sheet that electrostatically rolls up into a 1cm x 1m rod, then contracts like a telescoping antenna into a 1cm x 1mm disc. Then it can do all its various functions in rod and sheet size, and clip to my earring when I'm done. At such a low mass, its logic should be rechargeable by swinging while I walk, like a self-winding watch. The future is cool. If I can get a towel made of this stuff, I'll be the hoopiest frood in the Galaxy!

    --

    --
    make install -not war

  9. This letter will self destruct in 30 seconds... by Plaid+Phantom · · Score: 2, Interesting

    With the proper planning, could you use this to put a computer on a sheet of paper masked as a letter home? Imagine if spy agencies had some of this stuff...

    --
    All comments are properties and trademarks of the voices in my head. Not like I'm gonna claim them.
  10. Capacitors? by Lisandro · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I wonder if something like that could be used to make very high capacity unpolarized capacitors, just like the regular foil ones (an isolator sandwiched by two conductor sheets and rolled into a can). The only way to get high capacitances practically (above 1uF) is to use electrolytics, which have quite a share of disadvantages.

  11. Re:Didn't RTFA... by greg_barton · · Score: 2, Interesting

    If it is, I wonder if it would have any use in creating an ultralight spaceship?

    Ah, you mean a hull made from one single molecule which is transparent? linky

  12. Vacuum balloon material by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    A helium ballon rises because it is lighter than the volume of air it displaces.

    If this material is air tight and coupled with a nanotube structure, could a balloon/box be constructed with a vacuume inside?

  13. The end of the space shuttle? by Deep_Priest · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Isn't this fabric excactly what Arthur C. Clarke described as the building blocks for his space elevator in "The Fountains of Paradise"?
    http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0446 677949/104-1661537-6837554?v=glance

    He described long wires of single atom-wide carbon fibers stretching into space at geostationarily stable points. Which were used as the framework for elevators that brought people and cargo to space a lot cheaper than by rockets. It looks like NASA likes the idea:
    http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2000/ast07sep_1 .htm

  14. Slaver Stasis Field by Lynchenstein · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Wrap a Slaver Statis Field around it and BLAM-O! ...Instant variable sword!

    Good ol' Larry Niven.