5 ms·

I'm a long time friend with Pablo, the main researcher behind this discovery, since our time together at the university. Every time this pops up there is some

I'm a long time friend with Pablo, the main researcher behind this discovery, since our time together at the university. Every time this pops up there is some comment dismissing the discovery as yet another graphene theoretical breakthrough with no practical application. This discovery can help us better understand superconductivity at high temperatures, and that along will qualify it as a major discovery. It can also be super important in practice if we manage to bring graphene out of the lab. Not everything hits mass market in a 5 years timeframe... in the short term it may seem we have a slow rate of adoption of new technologies, but if you take a step back you can see the rate is fabulous. Graphene, batteries, solar cells and before them, transistors, nuclear power, etc. may take a while to hit the market, when they hit it they hit it hard.

ThePhysicist 8y ago
Super interesting approach. I worked on superconductivity during my time in Academia and my supervisor worked on high-Tc superconductors. Really fascinating to see the similarities here, as the high-Tc superconductors also seem to gain their superconductivity from their layered 2D structure. From my understanding Graphene offers a way to experiment with such layers in a more direct way by stacking them with an angle. I also think this could lead to many interesting new discoveries and material systems, but as you said it can take many decades for something like this to yield applied results such as new technologies. Still it’s absolutely worth it!
leoc 8y ago
> Not everything hits mass market in a 5 years timeframe... in the short term it may seem we have a slow rate of adoption of new technologies, but if you take a step back you can see the rate is fabulous. Graphene, batteries, solar cells and before them, transistors, nuclear power, etc. may take a while to hit the market, when they hit it they hit it hard. Most of those older comparisons still aren't flattering to graphene. We're nearly 15 years away from Geim and Novoselov's Sellotape trick now. 14 years after the first working laser in 1960 (though the first maser was in '53 and apparently the first paper was '51) the first supermarket barcode scanner was in operation, while Xerox PARC already had a working laser printer system. The first transistor was late 1947: the first consumer transistor radio was 1954 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regency_TR-1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regency_TR-1 , and the US military had been using transistors well before that. Calder Hill nuclear power station (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sellafield https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sellafield ) opened in 1956, about 14 years after the Manhattan Project and Chicago Pile-1.
- e98cuenc 8y ago
  We already have some graphene applications in the market. We may not get a graphene rope, just like we don't have a nuclear boosted car, but that doesn't mean there are not practical applications in the market and others expected to hit the market in a few years.
  - zamadatix 8y ago
    Your first comment says not everything hits the market in a 5 year timeframe and now you say we already have graphene applications on the market. What are these applications and why don't they count against your opening comment?
    - e98cuenc 8y ago
      Because they're still small applications and not what everyone is looking for. Just like other technologies first got to the market in some small niche applications, and it took decades to fully realize their potential.
himaraya 8y ago
> Pablo, the main researcher behind this discovery Trivial quibble, but Cao Yuan's the first author and lead researcher for these papers and unfortunately not directly mentioned -- I heard he had to argue for taking this approach to graphene.
- e98cuenc 8y ago
  Thank you for the correction. You're right, I should have said "one of the main researchers [...]". Pablo is the third author of the main paper.

ThePhysicist 8y ago

Super interesting approach. I worked on superconductivity during my time in Academia and my supervisor worked on high-Tc superconductors. Really fascinating to see the similarities here, as the high-Tc superconductors also seem to gain their superconductivity from their layered 2D structure. From my understanding Graphene offers a way to experiment with such layers in a more direct way by stacking them with an angle. I also think this could lead to many interesting new discoveries and material systems, but as you said it can take many decades for something like this to yield applied results such as new technologies. Still it’s absolutely worth it!

leoc 8y ago

> Not everything hits mass market in a 5 years timeframe... in the short term it may seem we have a slow rate of adoption of new technologies, but if you take a step back you can see the rate is fabulous. Graphene, batteries, solar cells and before them, transistors, nuclear power, etc. may take a while to hit the market, when they hit it they hit it hard. Most of those older comparisons still aren't flattering to graphene. We're nearly 15 years away from Geim and Novoselov's Sellotape trick now. 14 years after the first working laser in 1960 (though the first maser was in '53 and apparently the first paper was '51) the first supermarket barcode scanner was in operation, while Xerox PARC already had a working laser printer system. The first transistor was late 1947: the first consumer transistor radio was 1954 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regency_TR-1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regency_TR-1 , and the US military had been using transistors well before that. Calder Hill nuclear power station (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sellafield https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sellafield ) opened in 1956, about 14 years after the Manhattan Project and Chicago Pile-1.

e98cuenc 8y ago
We already have some graphene applications in the market. We may not get a graphene rope, just like we don't have a nuclear boosted car, but that doesn't mean there are not practical applications in the market and others expected to hit the market in a few years.
- zamadatix 8y ago
  Your first comment says not everything hits the market in a 5 year timeframe and now you say we already have graphene applications on the market. What are these applications and why don't they count against your opening comment?
  - e98cuenc 8y ago
    Because they're still small applications and not what everyone is looking for. Just like other technologies first got to the market in some small niche applications, and it took decades to fully realize their potential.

himaraya 8y ago

> Pablo, the main researcher behind this discovery Trivial quibble, but Cao Yuan's the first author and lead researcher for these papers and unfortunately not directly mentioned -- I heard he had to argue for taking this approach to graphene.

e98cuenc 8y ago
Thank you for the correction. You're right, I should have said "one of the main researchers [...]". Pablo is the third author of the main paper.