Thursday, October 25, 2012

Some Guy Named Sir Konstantin Sergeevich "Kostya" Novoselov, FRS, HonFRSC, FInstP Sets Out a Graphene Roadmap

Readers who have been with us for a while are probably thinking "Novoselov?", he's the bloke who won the Physics Nobel with the frog levitator, Geim.
I know, not nearly as exciting as the EU winning the Peace prize but what are you gonna do?
From SpaceDaily's Carbon World:

The graphene-paved roadmap
Writing in Nature, Nobel Prize-winner Professor Kostya Novoselov and an international team of authors has produced a 'Graphene Roadmap' which for the first time sets out what the world's thinnest, strongest and most conductive material can truly achieve.

The paper details how graphene, isolated for the first time at The University of Manchester by Professor Novoselov and colleague Professor Andre Geim in 2004, has the potential to revolutionise diverse applications from smartphones and ultrafast broadband to anticancer drugs and computer chips.

One key area is touchscreen devices, such as Apple's iPad, which use indium tin oxide. Graphene's outstanding mechanical flexibility and chemical durability are far superior. Graphene touchscreen devices would prove far more long-lasting and would open a way for flexible devices.

The authors estimate that the first graphene touchscreen devices could be on the market within three to five years, but will only realise its full potential in flexible electronics applications.

Rollable e-paper is another application which should be available as a prototype by 2015 - graphene's flexibility proving ideal for fold-up electronic sheets which could revolutionise electronics.

Timescales for applications vary greatly upon the quality of graphene required, the report claims. For example, the researchers estimate devices including photo-detectors, high-speed wireless communications and THz generators (for use in medical imaging and security devices) would not be available until at least 2020, while anticancer drugs and graphene as a replacement for silicon  is unlikely to become a reality until around 2030.

The paper also details the different ways of producing graphene - processes which have evolved hugely from the sticky tape method pioneered by the Nobel Laureates....MORE

Here's Novoselov's Nobel Acceptance Lecture: "Graphene: Materials in the Flatland"
And Geim's: "Random Walk to Graphene"
Previously:
"Graphene Can Improve Desalination Efficiency by Several Orders of Magnitude, Can Do Pretty Much Anything"
The 2010 Nobel prizes: Physics--Graphene Researchers Geim and Novoselov Win
Unlike the Peace Prize, you have to actually do something to win this one.
Materials science, yeah baby...
This really is a BFD.
Andre Geim First in History to Win Both the Nobel and the IgNobel Prizes
Nobelprize.org interviews Physics Laureate Geim about his Ig Nobel