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Possible Graphene Alternative Made From Hemp Waste
MTorrice writes "A low-cost chemical process can turn hemp fiber into carbon nanomaterials. Researchers used the materials to make devices called supercapacitors that provide quick bursts of electrical energy. Supercapacitors made with the hemp nanosheets put out more power than commercial devices can."
According to one of the authors, "Hemp bast is a nanocomposite made up of layers of lignin, hemicellulose, and crystalline cellulose ... If you process it the right way, it separates into nanosheets similar to graphene." Perhaps the process could be applied to related plants (hops?) too.
They did in fact create a system that puts out more instantaneous energy per unit weight, but that is not the improvement that super capacitors need. They have improved gravimetric power density. The two measures that need improvement to make super capacitors more useful are gravimetric energy density (how much energy can it store in a given weight), and volumetric energy density. How much energy can it store in a given volume. Without significant improvements in those two areas, super capacitors cannot make significant inroads against batteries.
It should also be noted that super capacitors already have better power density than chemical batteries by a wide margin, and are more than sufficient to replace I.C. engines and gasoline in that respect.
I wish I had a good sig, but all the good ones are copyrighted
They're the same plant. Hemp (both industrial and medicinal strains) were banned because:
a) there was hysteria over growing opium addiction, and the confusion about hashish (which was, at the time, a foreign and relatively unknown substance) lead some people to believe it was a form of opium
b) it threatened the massive paper and fibre industries
c) the 'top' media entrepreneurs at the time had investments in (b) and used their media empires to stoke the fear surrounding (a) to see hemp banned in the US alongside opium; then other countries followed because of the pressure put upon them by the US government
A classic story of capital triumphing over Good Things.
Hemp's illegal because weed's illegal. But why's weed illegal; because someone long ago wanted to make hemp illegal. They had controlling share of an opposing market and wanted to eliminate the competition. Here we are decades later wishing to make hemp legal again, but we can't because apparently people still believe jazz musicians are trying to corrupt our white women. Forget the hempen trojan horse; I don't want pot legalized on a technicality. By default, pot should be legal unless someone can give me a valid reason to ban it. The reason it's illegal today is the same root reason it was banned in the first place: there's a powerful industry that makes money from pot being illegal. The paper/textile industries agenda has been replaced (and dwarfed) by our private prison system. "because we'll lose money" is not a good reason to impose regulation. I shouldn't have to defend pot because I've yet to see a valid attack.
You kind of glossed over the big issue (B). The issue was Dupont.(concerning hemp not marihuana) Dupont had just created the synthetic fibre. Dupont did not want competition. The same can be said for hurst and his wood pulp making venture. The fact that you can make as much paper on 1 acre of land with hemp yearly as it would take 30 acres of land a cycle of 20 years to produce the same amount of paper.
This is the big reason it was banned. Now they also used the "black will rape white women" and "lazy mexicans smoke pot" as an excuse in the media (re: reefer madness for a good laugh. It is a funny movie minus the fact that they actually believed it to be true when made)
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same