Deep-Frying Graphene Microspheres For Energy Storage

ckwu writes Materials scientists have constructed round, pom-pom-like graphene microparticles by spraying graphene oxide droplets into a hot solvent—a process akin to deep-frying. The technique could provide a simple, versatile means to make electrode materials for batteries and supercapacitors, possibly leading to devices with improved energy and power densities, the researchers say. The microparticles contain graphene nanosheets radiating out from their centers, which increases the exposed surface area of the graphene and creates open nanochannels that can enhance charge transfer. Electrodes made with the graphene microspheres had higher capacitance than those made with unassembled graphene sheets, demonstrating that the 3-D structure of the particles improved performance.

Comments

Mmmm..

[Travis Mansbridge]

Proof that everything is better when deep fried.

Re:Mmmm..

[Thanshin]

Also proof that everything deep fried helps with energy storage.

Re:Mmmm..

[turkeydance]

Coming Soon to a State Fair near You!

Should have been obvious

[nonsequitor]

I mean, look at the energy density of an Arancini.

Science, not a product

[ledow]

Yet to see a graphene product in the wild.

Until then, this is interesting science research and nothing more.

Has been the same for, what, 11 years now?

The Wiki says: "While as of 2014, graphene is not used in commercial applications, many have been proposed and/or are under development, in areas including electronics, biological engineering, filtration, lightweight/strong composite materials, photovoltaics and energy storage.... adhesive, elastomer, oil and aqueous and non-aqueous solutions... advanced composites, paints and coatings, lubricants, oils and functional fluids, capacitors and batteries, thermal management applications, display materials and packaging, inks and 3D-printersâ(TM) materials, and barriers and films."

Stop making promises. Start making a single, viable product from it. At the moment, I have more products dependent on quantum interactions and radiation than I do on a substance we're told can be produced by pulling a strip of sellotape off a block of graphite.

Re:Science, not a product

[Required Snark]

Graphene is like affordable solar cell energy. It takes a long, long time to get started, and it seems that it's always five to ten years off, and then "suddenly" it has a major impact. Let's face it, the low hanging fruit, like transistors, has all been exploited. And even transistors had their begging in the 1930s with research at places like Bell Labs.

Introducing fundamental technology takes decades of incremental improvements and theoretical discovery. If you are looking for instant gratification perhaps you should shift your focus to web startups or multi-level marketing schemes. Things like graphene require a long attention span and lots of dedicated work. That doesn't seem to fit with your attitude.

Could Possibly

[Anonymous Coward]

Graphene seems always to be at a point where it "could" "possibly" be used for something. Has graphene actually been used for anything yet (beyond generating Slashdot articles)?

Finally, we're perfecting the carbon battery!

[TheRealHocusLocus]

Glad to see the potential for a new revolution in electronics. Assembling precise crystalline structures is the best way to harness properties of any material. For the most part we have been in the first generation of materials innovation, just one step removed from alchemy, where chemicals' properties are known in a general sense. Elements are combined and set into clumps of useful stuff.

The two prevalent forms of stuff-clumps used in electronics have been the cowpie, a dollop of stuff placed into container in which electrodes or plates are suspended to yield useful properties of storage or electron transfer, perhaps selectively doped to generallly control the dance of the little electrons in their shells... and the turd, an extruded mass of stuff in which its length or composition determines the property, and electrodes are fixed to either end.

1. harness the properties of useful stuff as cowpies and turds
2. fine-tune the diet to maximize useful properties in turds (present level of technology)
3. flocculate the turd juice into tiny turdlets (the innovation described in TA)
4. assemble lattices of turdlets via electrostatic or acoustic means (think phi and eye of dragonfly)
5. bit by bit assembly, such art as has been mastered by the Steelypips,

"Not far from here, by a white sun, behind a green star, lived the Steelypips, illustrious, industrious, and they hadn't a care: no spats in their vats, no rules, no schools, no gloom, no evil influence of the moon, no trouble from matter or antimatter -- for they had a machine, a dream of a machine, with springs and gears and perfect in every respect. And they lived with it, and on it, and under it, and inside it, for it was all they had -- first they saved up all their atoms, then they put them all together, and if one didn't fit, why they chipped at it a bit, and everything was just fine ..."
~~Stanislaw Lem

Of course, a few of the folks here are going to go on to suggest that this process will some day become giant disposable batteries the size of skyscrapers that are built and lovingly installed like 2001: Monoliths, for the express purpose of storing a year's worth of solar and wind grid energy so that if the clouds roll over and the wind dies down, it will power our modern civilization for ten minutes. At which point I will lose my temper.

"Do you want graphene microspheres with that?"

[Fear the Clam]

--Cruel teasing of STEM graduates' prospects from a land where liberal arts majors rule.