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Graphene Aerogel Takes World's Lightest Material Crown

Posted by samzenpus on from the I-don't-feel-a-thing dept.

cylonlover writes "Not even a year after it claimed the title of the world's lightest material, aerographite has been knocked off its crown by a new aerogel made from graphene. Created by a research team from China's Zhejiang University in the Department of Polymer Science and Engineering lab headed by Professor Gao Chao, the ultra-light aerogel has a density of just 0.16 mg/cm3, which is lower than that of helium and just twice that of hydrogen."

3 of 198 comments (clear)

  1. Enter the new airship age ... by RichMan · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Make a bag around it. Remove the air. We have an airship with the lift somewhere between H and He.

    So how strong is the aerogel? How big a bag can we make and have it support atmospheric pressure on the other side? That will really determine the lift efficiency.

  2. Re:Density by RichMan · · Score: 5, Informative

    The density is measured including its interior space. In reality the interior space is filled with air and its realtive weight is the carbon structure alone.
    To make it float you would have to find a way to seal off the interior structure and remove the air from that.

  3. Brief Kings by lymond01 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Graphene Aerogel Takes World's Lightest Material Crown

    A crown should weigh heavy on a ruler's brow, lest he forget the weight of his responsibility.