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Polymer-Based Graphene Substitute Is Easy To Mass-Produce

Posted by Soulskill on from the set-off-some-graphene-fireworks-to-celebrate dept.

Zothecula writes: For all the attention graphene gets thanks to its impressive list of properties, how many of us have actually encountered it in anything other than its raw graphite form? Show of hands. No-one? That's because it is still difficult to mass-produce without introducing defects. Now a team at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology has developed a graphene substitute from plastic that offers the benefits of graphene for use in solar cells and semiconductor chips, but is easy to mass-produce (abstract).

4 of 37 comments (clear)

  1. Re:substitute? by mark-t · · Score: 2

    That would be graphITE

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  2. Confusing article by marciot · · Score: 3, Informative

    Is the end result graphene, a lattice of carbon atoms, or not? What exactly is a "substitute carbon nanosheet" if not graphene itself? Is the process new or the material new? This article is like saying you developed an easier process for creating wood-pulp-based white laminar sheets that are flexible and suitable for writing letters and calling it a "paper substitute", without clearly saying why it isn't paper.

    1. Re:Confusing article by radtea · · Score: 2

      What exactly is a "substitute carbon nanosheet"

      Reading between the lines, it looks like it is a thin layer of mixed carbon and hydrogen with a structure that they have not yet properly characterized but which they have shown has the properties required for transparent electrodes in solar cells.

      Specifically, they say the properties of the layer can be controlled by the properties of the polymer they start with, which suggests that it partakes in the polymer's nature, which would mean it is more than just a single layer of carbon atoms.

      They may be being cautious and simply saying it is "graphene-like-enough" for this application, but having not fully characterized it may not want to claim it is "truly" graphene, which is a fairly vague term for a variety of single-sheet carbon materials that may have a variety of defects, in just the same was as "paper" is also fairly vague (from tissue to construction.)

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      Blasphemy is a human right. Blasphemophobia kills.
  3. Re:substitute? by rubycodez · · Score: 2

    and you would have been wrong. graphite is nothing more than stacked and bonded graphene sheets