Graphene: The Future of Everything?
The name ‘graphene’ has been discussed a lot lately often about its versatility and potential to impact almost every industry from aviation to sports. Graphene, in simple words, is like your household cling rap that consists of single layered Carbon atoms arranged so neatly that it is lighter than feather and harder than diamond. In fact, it is so thin that it was classified as two dimensional. Above all, it is a good conductor of electricity and can be stretched across a surface due to its flexibility, making it the ideal material for use in futuristic devices like wearable gadgets.
Patent War
With the sales of smartphones expected to hit $847 billion by 2016 and market for wearable technology predicted to grow 14-fold in the next 5 years, the development of graphene presents a huge opportunity for tech giants like Samsung and Apple. Both companies have been fighting to acquire more patents related to graphene. So far, it seems Samsung is winning with at least 17 graphene-related applications while Apple only has 2.
Despite numerous patents out there, Korea-based Graphene Square Inc. (GSQ) appears to have the most promising patent for developing mass-producing graphene-based displays. Right now, the company has secured over 58 related patents. GSQ is also working with Hong Byung Hee, a professor at Seoul National University and one of the company’s founders, who has been developing these patents, of which he owns 70%. Their goal is to commercialize graphene by producing rolls of graphene sheets that can be used in the production of touch screens by 2015. Currently, the company claims that it is already able to make sheets as large as 50 inches diagonally or 5 times the length of an iPad. When all is said and done, graphene could potentially replace indium tin oxide (ITO), most commonly used film on mobile-device touchscreens, and reduces the price of gadgets even more as ITO’s price have been rising due to scarcity.
Potential
The exciting thing about graphene is that it can be used in almost everything. Because it can conduct electricity 100x faster than Silicon, graphene can make electronic devices such as smartphones stay charged for weeks and recharges in 15 minutes. It can also be used in chips and circuit boards to make computers run faster and more energy efficient. Besides its conductivity, graphene is also 200x stronger than steel and much lighter, making it perfect to use in manufacturing air crafts, cars, sport equipment, and apparel. For those tennis lovers, I believe Head has came out with the Graphene line already.
Research & Funding
Numerous institutions including universities and corporations are investing heavily into the development of graphene. Last year the EU announced a $1 billion 10-year funding for graphene-related R&D. In the US, a team of 10 Cornell professors is finding ways for graphene’s uses in medical and space field.
It looks like the future of graphene is quite promising given its rapid development and funding. So, what do you think about graphene?
i hope someone make reusable toilet paper out of graphene
Really nice write up. Thanks!
for anyone wondering, Samsung's ticker is KS:005930. Honestly, why in God's name are they not listed on the NYSE???
Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.
Sat on a plane with a guy that's a VP of a private company that manufactures this stuff. It was a couple months ago so I don't remember a lot of the conversation anymore, but the information I do recall is pretty interesting. He mentioned that the company he works for has a lot of contracts with F500 companies and universities like Northwestern and Rutgers. According to him, the issue with this stuff right now is that they can't mass produce it and have it remain stable, all while keeping it cheap. However, he did say that if they can mass produce it, there are a ton of uses for it. I think he said at one point that you could make a military vehicle out of it. He also mentioned something about demand shooting through the roof due to supply in China, which would make sense seeing as that roughly 70% of graphite deposits are located in China.
In the end he was really passionate about it and said it was going to be the next big thing. Will it be? Guess we'll have to wait and find out.
Is it brittle? I know that Carbon Fiber is a really light and strong material, but is also brittle and can shatter when too much pressure is applied.
That would be amazing.
I recently read an article about the use of graphene in contact lenses. Essentially, with something so light and maleable, we could eventually put nightvision and binocular effects right onto the lenses
Graphene is essentially the god material...it does seemingly everything while being almost indestructible and almost weightless. The first company to mass-supply it to companies like Apple and Samsung will not be able to stack their money fast enough. I am extremely excited about the future with graphene in it.
Fun fact: I'm pretty sure graphene was first discovered when a professor put a piece of scotch tape on a piece of graphite and then took it off. The thin layer that stuck to the tape is now known as graphene.
I really hope Samsung beats Apple for it, altho I wish Google itself were in the running. I wouldn't wanna see it have a trade name like "iMaterial," "iSteel," etc. Android will forever thru the ages own the smartphone space.
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