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RESEARCHERS IN DUBLIN have achieved a breakthrough in the production of ‘wonder material’ graphene.
Scientists at the AMBER, a materials science centre at Trinity College Dublin and funded by Science Foundation Ireland, have discovered a way to produce the material in industrial quantities.
The substance is one the strongest known with a section 1mm thick being 200 times stronger than steel and a superconductor of electricity more than 1000 times more effective than copper.
It’s also 97.3 per cent transparent and extremely bendable.
However, it is extremely difficult to produce.
These single-atom thick sheets of carbon made from graphite could potentially revolutionise many parts of our lives, from providing the next step in battery technology, biomedical sensors, water filtration, to even photovoltaic cells used in solar panels
Their findings are to be published in the Nature Materials publication, heralded as a ‘global breakthrough’.
“This shows how industry and academic collaboration can lead to research of the highest calibre, with real commercial applications,” Prof Jonathan Coleman from AMBER said.
Graphene has been identified as a life changing material and to be involved at this stage of development is a wonderful achievement
Minister for Research and Innovation Sean Sherlock praised the team’s work, saying producing graphene in mass quantities is “something that USA, China, Australia, UK, Germany and other leading nations have all been striving for and have not yet achieved”.
Thomas Swan Ltd have now signed a contract with AMBER to scale-up production.
The project was part of the Graphene Flagship, spanning 17 countries with 126 academics as well as industry partners working on a common goal, and was part of the €1 billion research project announced by the EU, of which Ireland received 1 per cent.
Additional reporting by Press Association.
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Well done
Well done sean sherlock you genius.
Please stop this madness…my phone buttons are already too small.
It is great news … But why oh why did we then give it to a Non-Irish firm to start mass producing it? Do we not have the capability ourselves?
Probably not.
No Cal we don’t have a specialist manufacturing company in Ireland. This product needs to be brought into production as quickly as possible. Once this is on the market the irish developers can benefit from the royalties which will fund further R and D. Time is of the essence and the fact that a company has been signed up to go into production irrespective of its location is the most important factor.
That’s great news , that will creat lots of jobs, -but most likely only in China.
Great News.
I asked here a few weeks ago if anyone would like to partner with me and help me invent clear tinfoil. Guess its back to the drawing board again! Damn you brainy guys! Damn you!
Think the cling film guys got that one, eh…covered!
Please tell me they patented it!
Why? Public money funded the development so the technology should be freely available to all.
So pubic money paid by Irish people should benefit other countries such as china, Korea, Russia etc? Eh no….
We live on one fkin planet, borders are just on paper, let the super-tech benefit all
Read the article. The funding came from the EU, not the Irish tax payer.
If we are as you say ‘one Planet with only paper boarders ‘Then why do we force entrepreneurs in one country to give sick pay, maternity leave , gender quotas , work place injury pay etc etc
While we allow competitors from abroad to sell their goods here cheaply
It should be a LEVEL playing field.
If I must give benefits to my employees,
Then import restriction should be placed on my competitors if they refuse to give similar benefits to theirs .
Also this week another Irish company has announced their development of a device to identify if a sample of meat is beef, chicken or whatever in just 30 minutes. AltraTech are bring this disposable device to market and let’s hope it’s a winner :-) More good news.
KFC etc are sitting themselves
Give the know how to the Norwegians for the price of a pint for paddy.
Really interesting stuff and well done. This is exactly what Ireland should be doing. As well as royalties, it would be good to see Ireland commercializing this technology in transparent displays and batteries.
This will be a great benefit to soldiers bullet proof vests that are safer but lighter.great job lads
What’s this article about, teleporting is it?
Fantastic news!
If it’s as strong as indicated then it could be used for spacecraft and for things like cars, bikes etc.
On the vehicle front, if this material is really light then it could be used in conjunction with the new Hydrogen based batteries that are being developed, it has the potential to produce vehicles which give off almost no harmful emissions!
Of course, this is all conjecture right now and the fruits of my over active imagination could be a century away, but it’s great to think about what could develop from this breakthrough :)
Creative thinkers, like your self, as well as scientists are a very good thing. Too often people don’t offer conjecture through fear of ridicule.
Just imagine what we could do – if we got the whole €1 Billion from the EU!
Nanotech to coat stuff. Have a gander. Kinda cool. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BVu1wqJN3w&feature=youtube_gdata_player
This is a very Irish Solution (in a Fr Ted kinda way) to a very complicated and difficult problem. “Feck it all into the blender lad’s and see what happens huh!” :)
Brilliant News, Well Done To Everybody Involved.
Plus, Thomas Swan is a brilliant business and a northeast firm with a great heritage. China won’t even recognised a patent and will be happy to just take the tech and run with it – keep as much in Ireland and the UK as possible I say!
Well done, I just need enough for my speaker cables.
What is their definition of mass production? Checkout http://www.vorbeck.com
We are doing Graphene at bulk and we do not see ready industry for its consumption!!!!
http://www.bt-corp.co
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