Thin, Light, Strong, and Energy Dense

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation 2 Comments

 2010’s Nobel Prize in Physics went to Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, who extracted graphene from a piece of graphite when they stuck a piece of adhesive tape to it and peeled away a single atom-thick layer of the thinnest, strongest material in the world. The Nobel Prize web site explains other remarkable properties of this new material.  “As a conductor of electricity it performs as well as copper. As a conductor of heat it outperforms all other known materials. It is almost completely transparent, yet so dense that not even helium, the smallest gas atom, can pass through it. Carbon, the basis of all known life on earth, has surprised us once again.” With studies in quantum physics and materials science possible, practical applications loom.  “Also a vast variety of practical applications now appear possible including the creation of new materials and the manufacture of innovative electronics.  Graphene transistors are predicted to be substantially faster than today’s silicon transistors …