4 ms·
Superconductivity switches on and off in 'magic-angle' graphene
- DarmokJalad1701 4y agoMaybe I missed it, but the article does not say what temperature/pressure this material is superconducting at. Also is this superconductivity the same as the typical definition of superconductivity (e.g. YBCO)?
- sp332 4y agoIt's supercooled to well below 1K, but I don't see anyone doing research with magic angle graphene at high pressures.
- spxtr 4y agoMatt Yankowitz' "Tuning superconductivity in magic-angle graphene" shows how hydrostatic pressure affects TBG magic.
- astockwell 4y agoAh, no wonder there's no common daily uses of it yet.
- ChrisMarshallNY 4y agoAh... Graphene, the gift that never seems to keep on giving. It makes me sad to keep reading all these stories about what an awesome thing Graphene and Carbon Nanotubes are, then never seeing anything actually happen, in real life. I have to assume that is because it is impossible to manufacture these materials at any reasonable scale.
- LatteLazy 4y agoAgreed. I worked on Graphene back in 2006 and it has been the 18m away from revolutionising everything ever since. The lack of a reliable, precise, bulk, manufacturing process means so much of these results are basically just theoretical. :(
- atonse 4y agoI remember reading a decade ago how they figured out how to create it by using sticky tape to pull up a single layer… what happened to that?
- MoreSEMI 4y agoUnfortunately, that is stochastic and will not be reproducible or result in yields anywhere close to acceptable to industry. There are methods to grow materials of the same class(TMDC) with CVD and the like, but apparently they don’t reach the quality of flakes that the tape method results in.
- dkqmduems 4y agoThis is a poor understanding of the scientific method.
- LatteLazy 4y agoMy comment is not about the scientific method.
- dkqmduems 4y agoYou claim many of the results remain theoretical. Are you familiar with the experimental validation of many of these results? That is certainly part of the scientific method.
- edgyquant 4y agoYou replied to a comment saying they had worked with the stuff with a ridiculous assertion that they misunderstood the scientific method. Learn social skills if you want to actually discuss something
- sroussey 4y agoWe should also figure out what do do with the stuff before it ends up in the ocean and landfills. Or at least what will happen when it’s there.
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 4y agoI thought they could be manufactured at scale but producing long unbroken strands at scale is the issue. Nanotubes are already in a bunch of things that don't require long strands.
- yummypaint 4y agoThere is alot people don't know about solid state physics in general. Part of why people love to work with graphene is because it makes it possible to begin investigating edge cases in the current understanding of the quantum mechanics of bulk materials. There is a great deal being learned about physics in general through graphene systems. I would not be surprised if some of this knowledge has already found applications in use now like designing better photodetectors, or applying a better understanding of cooper pairs to improve commercial superconductors. A product does not necessarily have to contain graphene or have graphene in its name to have benefited from this line of research.
- sebzim4500 4y agoIt is widely believed by aerospace nerds that the new models of F-35 use carbon nanutubes to absorb radar. (Lockheed has a patent and the timing works out)
- MoreSEMI 4y agoI think what is very poorly communicated by the scientists writing these papers, is often that it is about investigating a “model” system, generally because its is easy to work with such system(i.e) shows interesting properties above 4k. Its less about producing stuff with graphene, and more about understanding the physics behind it. What eventually actually gets produced may actually use materials that are similar to the model system but not actually it.
- 0xbadcafebee 4y agoSo far. Eventually a manufacturing process will be worked out. In the mean time there's a lot of theoretical stuff we gain, and that theory gets used by other things. Remember that for most of human history, scientific and technological progress was extremely slow, taking centuries for a minor improvement. We've been absolutely spoiled rotten by the past century.
- icambron 4y agoI have a friend who works in nanotube manufacturing and they can do it at scale. My impression is that the industrial application of this stuff is just a lot of hard work and has progressed slowly.
- peteradio 4y agoPretty sure graphene is equivalent to asbestos on the cancer scale. Not sure why there is such a pressure to put more more more out there before we can assess the impacts.
- Oxidation 4y agoUntil they start stuffing it raw into house insulation, making clothing and baby powddr from it and blowing it around freely as fake snow, I think it'll be fine for the foreseeable future. Even asbestos is generally fine as long as it's fixed into a solid form and not disturbed (like roofing panels). And there's definitely awareness about nanoparticles, as well as benzene and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons that there was not when asbestos was in full swing.
- irthomasthomas 4y agoAre you living under a rock? There must be hundreds of products already using graphene. It's in batteries, sports equipment, building materials, electronics. E.g. https://hobbyking.com/en_us/graphene-5000mah-6s-75c.html https://hobbyking.com/en_us/graphene-5000mah-6s-75c.html https://www.runningxpert.com/en/inspiration/best-inov8-running-shoes https://www.runningxpert.com/en/inspiration/best-inov8-runni... https://shop.suninhouse.eu/gb/graphene-ir-heating-films/22-graphene-ir-heating-foil-50cm-220w-m2-4710000000165.html https://shop.suninhouse.eu/gb/graphene-ir-heating-films/22-g... Concretene is 30-50% stronger than standard RC30 concrete and does not require steel reinforcement, meaning significantly less material is needed to achieve the equivalent structural performance. Although the material is more expensive to produce (approximately 5% additional cost), the reduced amount of Concretene results in 10-20% overall cost saving for the end customer. https://firstgraphene.net/applications/concrete/ https://firstgraphene.net/applications/concrete/ https://elecjet.com/products/apollo-traveller-graphene-usb-c-pd-power-bank-5000mah https://elecjet.com/products/apollo-traveller-graphene-usb-c... https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ultron-most-powerful-wireless-graphene-powerbank#/ https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ultron-most-powerful-wire...
- ChrisMarshallNY 4y agoI get the feeling that these "hundreds" of uses aren't really leveraging the materials' most effective properties. It would not surprise me, if the graphene does little more, than add expensive chrome to the brand. Sort of like using a UPS unit as a doorstop. Looks fancy, but maybe not its most effective implementation. Maybe like the "Truffle Oil" industry: https://www.tasteatlas.com/truffle-industry-is-a-big-scam https://www.tasteatlas.com/truffle-industry-is-a-big-scam And, as far as I know, I am not living under a rock. Thanks for the suggestion, though.
- irthomasthomas 4y agoI gave a concrete example. Something that is in use today. Concretene is 30-50% stronger than standard RC30 concrete and does not require steel reinforcement, meaning significantly less material is needed to achieve the equivalent structural performance. Although the material is more expensive to produce (approximately 5% additional cost), the reduced amount of Concretene results in 10-20% overall cost saving for the end customer. https://firstgraphene.net/applications/concrete/ https://firstgraphene.net/applications/concrete/
- AtlasBarfed 4y agoA good one I heard: graphene can do everything/anything except get out of a lab.
- rolenthedeep 4y agoAt CES this year, I saw some capacitive sensors (with astonishing sensitivity) made from fractal carbon nanotubes on paper.
- neonate 4y agoThey should make memristors out of it.
- m463 4y agoI wonder if the delay for these sorts of things is just this way? I mean, the theory of relativity came out in 1905, and applications might have taken 70 or 80 years and only in small ways.