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  • What Graphene Means for the Environment
    Jun 16, 2020 | ACS MATERIAL LLC

    What’s so revolutionary about graphene, a material composed of 100% carbon? Hasn’t carbon been around quite literally forever? Carbon is one of the basic building blocks of life and is found abundantly in all corners of the world. But in 2004, when two researchers at the University of Manchester exfoliated one layer of carbon atoms from a chunk of ubiquitous soft carbon graphite, everything changed. The result was graphene, a single layer of bonded carbon atoms. It’s the world’s first 2D material; one sheet of graphene is one atom thick. Every single carbon atom in graphene is exposed, which gives it properties that are unique from graphitic carbon:

    • It’s almost completely transparent
    • It’s strong
    • It’s flexible
    • It conducts heat
    • It conducts electricity
    • It’s magnetic
    • It’s impermeable to liquids and most gases

    Graphene, a material that’s everywhere, might just change everything.

    What Graphene Means for the Environment

    Graphene is precisely the material researchers need to provide solutions for our growing and expanding 21st-century global community. Attention worldwide is fixed on eliminating the use of petrochemicals, reducing CO2 emissions, and finding greener ways to produce power. We need to feed, clothe, shelter, and get power to billions of people, and we need to do it responsibly and efficiently. Graphene is poised to make this possible. No other material known today can match the properties of graphene; its strength, electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, surface area, and filtering abilities are unmatched. Graphene has opened the doors to new environmentally-friendly solutions that, before its discovery, simply weren’t feasible.

    Graphene for Renewable Energy

    Renewable Energy

    The search for clean, green renewable energy sources dominates conversations across all industries. The energy needs of our global populations are rising, especially as major population centers like India and China increase their demands for electricity, cars, and technology. The hard reality is that we simply won’t be able to power and connect our world with existing sources of energy; new solutions are critical.

    Graphene is well-suited to step in and handle the challenge.

    • Batteries- Graphene reduces electrode resistance, maintains active material content, and creates a high-energy battery with incredible potential for high-energy applications. High-power, durable batteries are essential to shifting away from combustion engines to electric vehicles. Incorporating graphene into the anode structures within lithium-ion car batteries doubles their life span and improves the overall function and performance of the vehicle.
    • Energy Generation- Graphene may be the key to helping solar energy get some real traction in the renewable energy sector. Incorporating graphene into photovoltaic materials increases efficiencies significantly. Graphene solar cells have the potential to be lightweight and inexpensive, making solar a viable energy solution for sun-rich locations such as Africa, India, Southeast Asia, and many others. Few homes in these regions can handle heavy solar panels, but a thin, lightweight solar “sticker” made from graphene could bring electricity to millions, even billions, of homes.
    • Energy Storage- The wind doesn’t always blow, and the sun doesn’t always shine, which is why energy storage is a critical component of renewable energy systems. Graphene is a high-surface, light, stable, high-volume conducting material with great potential for energy storage.

    Water Security

    Clean water is important to everyone. Graphene technologies make one-step desalination and ultra-water filtrations possible. Many existing water purification technologies are costly in terms of both capital and energy; permeable graphene membranes can change all that. Graphene membranes are 1,000 times thinner than conventional water filtration membranes; using graphene membranes for filtration requires less pump pressure and produces a greater output of clean water. Lower costs and greater efficiency mean more clean water for everyone anywhere in the world.

    Efficiency

    Using resources efficiently is a core principle of wise environmental stewardship. Minimizing or eliminating waste is one component of efficiency. Graphene coatings and components made with graphene last longer; they’re more resistant to corrosion, weathering, UV rays, salt, and even wear. When wind turbine blades, airplanes, and cars are made using graphene, they will weigh less, function more efficiently, and last longer.

    Graphene from ACS Material

    ACS Material is a leading graphene supplier. We carry high-quality graphene, CVD graphene, graphene transfer supplies, and other advanced nanomaterials and chemicals. We’re excited to be a part of the eco-friendly revolution sparked by the discovery of graphene. With your ideas and our research-grade graphene products, we can change the world.