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MIT Working On Industrial-Scale Graphene Printing Press
surewouldoutlaw writes "Hot on the heels of news that research into graphene is being funded by the NSF, MIT says it is working on an industrial-size graphene printing press for synthesizing sheets as large as 1-km square. The current record is 76 cm sq. Tomas Palacios, director of the Center for Graphene Devices and Systems, said, 'The way I approach graphene is different from most other researchers in this field. Ninety-nine percent of the papers on graphene have been written by physicists, focusing on amazing and unique properties of the material. I have the point of view of an engineer. I’m interested in finding the best applications for graphene’s unique properties.'"
One square kilometer as in 1000 m * 1000 m --- How do they even have room for the process?
Guess I'll have to RTFA to figure our what they really mean. Probably something about stitching them together.
3M doesn't make Scotch Tape (TM) that big.
All the sooner that public bathrooms will be stocked with graphene toilet paper.
Brings up an interesting question: at 1 atom thick, how long a strip of graphene would a standard toilet paper roll represent?
while [ 1 ]; do echo -n -e "\xe2\x95\xb$((($RANDOM&1)+1))"; done
"Oh, they've printed him in carbonite! That should preserve him, if he can survive the rollers."
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
I can't be positive, but I'd be shocked to find out that NSF has not already awarded many research groups grants to study graphene... so I'm not sure what that link is doing there.
If they are indeed intending to make these 1km^2 area sheets as long rolls instead of ridiculous squares, it seems to me that this has interesting implications for a space elevator. At a lenth of 35,000km, an area of 1 km^2 works out to be 2.8cm, which could then be rolled into essentially a giant nano tube. According to Wikipedia, graphene's tensile strength is 130GPa, which is incidentally precisely the estimated material strength required to build a space elevator (again, according to a quick Wiki check).
So, it looks like if they can indeed manage this, we will be much closer to the tech required to build a space elevator. (And perhaps, in a more general sense, finally have what nanotubes have long promised.)
Using the wikipedia statement that "a stack of three million sheets would be only one millimeter thick" and a handy online rolled material calculator (using 1.5 inch center diameter and 6 inch outer diameter) you get ~32,000 miles!!!
while [ 1 ]; do echo -n -e "\xe2\x95\xb$((($RANDOM&1)+1))"; done
How far is a rolled graphene tube from the coveted carbon nanotubes of space elevator destiny?
What they are talking about is a continues manufacturing process. It just means that they can get a good production run. I am sure they will cut down the 1km^2 into something more reasonable.
It’s the same for LCD screens. They come off these huge glass sheets. The cut out the defective parts and then figure out what to turn into to. (A couple large TVs, many small TVs, or lots of phone screens.)
Depends on how tightly you can roll it without disrupting it.
Tearing is not supposed to be a problem? Stretching?
Well, sticking will be a problem.
You have to have some space between layers or the layers will stick together, whether bonding together or simple exerting static cling that makes it hard to unroll. And even problems with air pressure, if the roll is wider than 10-20 cm.
It's not quite going to be like spidey's web stuff.
Computer memory is just fancy paper, CPUs just fancy pens with fancy erasers; the 'net is just a fancy backyard fence.
Everybody wants the sweet jobs.
But nobody wants to do the work.
And then they say that's what makes them different from everyone else.
What this guy is saying is just that he's betting that the tech is finally getting there for some profitable applications. (Nothing new on that bet, really.)
And that he is terribly impatient with all the physicists who are taking way too long to turn this magic technology into money.
Computer memory is just fancy paper, CPUs just fancy pens with fancy erasers; the 'net is just a fancy backyard fence.
I'm sure Palacios didn't mean what he said there. Either that, or he's lost his mind.
I know of several physicists with startup companies aimed at constructing reel-to-reel graphene manufacturing. It would be silly for a physicist to try and build such a device, which is why they hire engineers.