Time For Some Good News
No, this is not about BEES!
Graphene just might be the world’s most incredible material. A honeycomb-like sheet of pure carbon only one atom thick, it’s one million times thinner than a human hair and yet 200 times stronger than steel. It’s also an excellent conductor of heat and electricity and is stretchable, flexible, transparent, and impermeable.
And now scientists at Caltech in Pasadena, Calif. say they have figured out how to make the stuff on an industrial scale—a breakthrough that could open the floodgates to a seemingly endless array of graphene-based products……The new process is faster and simpler than the usual approach to making graphene. Instead of 10 hours and up to 10 separate steps, it involves one step and takes just five minutes, according to a written statement released by the university. And unlike the usual approach, which involves temperatures of 1,000 degrees Celsius (1,800 degrees Fahrenheit), the new process works at temperatures no higher than 420 degrees C. That’s cool enough to be compatible with existing electronics manufacturing processes, according to Boyd.
Discoveries like this depend on federal research grants and university funding. Perhaps we should take time to remind our congresscritters that funding science can keep our technologies cutting edge which is good for business and potentially good for the environment.