15 May Four reasons why graphene is the green material of the future

Graphene is one of the few commodities that has been exciting explorers and investors alike in a time when others are floundering in Australia and internationally, and it could well prove to be one of the greenest ever known. It is the thinnest material on Earth, is harder than diamonds and stronger than steel.

It is also flexible, lightweight and dissipates heat and conducts electricity 200 times faster than silicon. Industries in which graphene could revolutionise product offering include electronics, sports equipment and a range of environmental applications, including wastewater decontamination and seawater desalination. In this blog I will focus on four applications of graphene that can potentially revolutionise traditional products and services.

Graphene is the “green material of the future” for the following reasons:

• In the oxide form, graphene can quickly remove contaminants from wastewater due to its large surface area to weight ratio
• It can filter salt from seawater more efficiently due to its single atomic layer. Current desalination methods require high pressure and significant energy consumption
• When combined with other materials, research has shown that Graphene can make them either superabsorbent or super repellent, which has applications for waterproofing and electronics (amongst others)
• Prototype Graphene smartphone batteries at UCLA and elsewhere charge fully in seconds, and Graphene-based supercapacitors are currently being examined for usage in cell phones and other portable devices.

See more information here and here