Sep 9, 2021 09:01 AM
Graphene: it took years, but finally the next big thing can change humankind
https://medium.com/predict/it-took-years...ede4a3de25
INTRO: In the early 2000s, two physicists at The University of Manchester came across a sensational discovery. In one of their Friday Night Experiments, they isolated an entirely new substance, almost as a joke.
It was a material with unique properties –the thinnest and simultaneously the strongest known to science. It was almost entirely transparent and at the same time so dense as to even prevent the passage of helium, the smallest gaseous atom. It was probably the most extraordinary substance ever discovered –a thin, atom-thick sheet of carbon possessing remarkable properties–graphene.
To Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, that discovery, made while playing with adhesive tape, earned them the Nobel Prize. Yet, since 2004, the expectations of seeing its application in the real world have remained nothing but expectations.
For nearly twenty years, graphene has not moved from the status of “it will revolutionize the world –in the future.” The laboratory methods to obtain graphene were inapplicable for scale production. And the cost of producing it flawlessly in significant volumes made its price unaffordable for any industry.
But the research just needed more time. And how much became clear at the beginning of the year when the GAC Group announced mass production of electric vehicles with graphene batteries starting in September.
The Aion 5 will be the first vehicle equipped with this technology. The first to be able to recharge from 0–80% in 8 minutes. And the first to have an autonomy of 1000 km (621 miles) –almost two times the range of a Tesla Model 3.
Long story short, that moment awaited for 17 years has finally arrived. Graphene has officially begun its revolution, and electric mobility will be the first sector to be overwhelmed... (MORE)
https://medium.com/predict/it-took-years...ede4a3de25
INTRO: In the early 2000s, two physicists at The University of Manchester came across a sensational discovery. In one of their Friday Night Experiments, they isolated an entirely new substance, almost as a joke.
It was a material with unique properties –the thinnest and simultaneously the strongest known to science. It was almost entirely transparent and at the same time so dense as to even prevent the passage of helium, the smallest gaseous atom. It was probably the most extraordinary substance ever discovered –a thin, atom-thick sheet of carbon possessing remarkable properties–graphene.
To Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, that discovery, made while playing with adhesive tape, earned them the Nobel Prize. Yet, since 2004, the expectations of seeing its application in the real world have remained nothing but expectations.
For nearly twenty years, graphene has not moved from the status of “it will revolutionize the world –in the future.” The laboratory methods to obtain graphene were inapplicable for scale production. And the cost of producing it flawlessly in significant volumes made its price unaffordable for any industry.
But the research just needed more time. And how much became clear at the beginning of the year when the GAC Group announced mass production of electric vehicles with graphene batteries starting in September.
The Aion 5 will be the first vehicle equipped with this technology. The first to be able to recharge from 0–80% in 8 minutes. And the first to have an autonomy of 1000 km (621 miles) –almost two times the range of a Tesla Model 3.
Long story short, that moment awaited for 17 years has finally arrived. Graphene has officially begun its revolution, and electric mobility will be the first sector to be overwhelmed... (MORE)
