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Laser Light Forges Graphene Into the Third Dimension (newatlas.com)
Big Hairy Ian quotes New Atlas: The wonder material graphene gets many of its handy quirks from the fact that it exists in two dimensions, as a sheet of carbon only one atom thick. But to actually make use of it in practical applications, it usually needs to be converted into a 3D form. Now, researchers have developed a new and relatively simple way to do just that, using lasers to 'forge' a three-dimensional pyramid out of graphene...
By focusing a laser onto a fine point on a 2D graphene lattice, the graphene at that spot is irradiated and bulges outwards. A variety of three-dimensional shapes can be made by writing patterns with the laser spot, with the height of the shape controlled by adjusting the irradiation dose at each particular point. The team illustrated that technique by deforming a sheet of graphene into a 3D pyramid, standing 60 nm high. That sounds pretty tiny, but it's 200 times taller than the graphene sheet itself.
"The beauty of the technique is that it's fast and easy to use," says one of the researchers. "It doesn't require any additional chemicals or processing."
By focusing a laser onto a fine point on a 2D graphene lattice, the graphene at that spot is irradiated and bulges outwards. A variety of three-dimensional shapes can be made by writing patterns with the laser spot, with the height of the shape controlled by adjusting the irradiation dose at each particular point. The team illustrated that technique by deforming a sheet of graphene into a 3D pyramid, standing 60 nm high. That sounds pretty tiny, but it's 200 times taller than the graphene sheet itself.
"The beauty of the technique is that it's fast and easy to use," says one of the researchers. "It doesn't require any additional chemicals or processing."
Isn't this a violation of the prime directive? You would be forcing carbon atoms who know of 2D space into the foreign world of THREEE DIMENSIONS (shuns... shuns... shuns..)!!!!!!
The wonder material graphene gets many of its handy quirks from the fact that it exists in two dimensions, as a sheet of carbon only one atom thick.
Atoms are 3 dimensional, so no!
Everything I write is lies, read between the lines.
Did light bounce a solid?
If it was a real pyramid I suppose it would be very difficult to handle. Those would be some deadly sharp edges...
I am a graphene researcher. Actually, I'm a commercial scientist working on graphene products. It's been... educational watching certain parts of my field fail to pay attention to the actual commercialization of graphene that's been going on around them for the last several years. If you look around with just a little effort, you can find real graphene enabled products (as in graphene plays an important role more than just marketing) for purchase right now.
Graphene doesn't "need" a 3D structure. For success, any new material needs good business cases, good product development, and good investment. We don't need more press releases about the "wonder material." This is a distraction.
Given: a lump of coal
Problem: make a sail
Problem: make a cover
Turn On Laser...
since when the fuck did Atoms become 2D items?
Wake me up when they finally make the graphene sword we've all been waiting for.
Wait, isn't this how my DVD-R burner works? Are they REALLY saying that they just re-invented the DVD-R/CD-R technology for Graphene? If so, give those guys a cookie.