Turning saltwater into clean drinking water is an expensive, energy-intensive process, but could the wonder material graphene make it more accessible?
New Discovery Could Unlock Graphene’s Full Potential –
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Top 10 Uses for the World’s Strongest Material
“Graphene is the world’s new wonder material. It’s the thinnest electronic material ever invented, consisting of a layer of carbon atoms just a single atom thick — the atoms are arranged in a hexagonal pattern. It weighs almost nothing, coming in at only 0.77 grams for a square meter. But it’s no lightweight. Graphene is 100 times stronger than steel of the same thickness. It conducts both heat and electricity better than copper, and has outstanding optical and mechanical properties. If it could be produced on an industrial scale, graphene might revolutionize fields such as electronics and even body armor.”
A Lucky Lab Accident Results in Bucketloads of Graphene
Apparently, when it comes to making graphene, the 21st-century ‘miracle material’ taking manufacturing by storm, you can do things the hard way or the fun way. The hard ways – and there are dozens – all have their own complications. Some require high temperatures and long ‘cooking’ times, others require the use of hazardous chemicals like sulfuric acid or hydrazine. The easy way comes from physicists at Kansas State University, and the process is admirably straightforward: Fill a steel containment unit with oxygen and hydrocarbon gas, detonate it with the spark and, voila, a bucketload of soot-like graphene. Scrape it out and repeat.
Graphene sieve turns seawater into drinking water
“Graphene-oxide membranes have attracted considerable attention as promising candidates for new filtration technologies. Now the much sought-after development of making membranes capable of sieving common salts has been achieved. New research demonstrates the real-world potential of providing clean drinking water for millions of people who struggle to access adequate clean water sources. The new findings from a group of scientists at The University of Manchester were published today in the journal Nature Nanotechnology. Previously graphene-oxide membranes have shown exciting potential for gas separation and water filtration.”
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Special thanks to Julian Huguet for hosting and writing this episode of Seeker!
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