High-quality graphene would soon be used for the next generation of electronics and energy devices. To produce it a simple method has been done. This method involves only using a microwave oven in order to bake the compound.
Researchers at Rutgers' School of Engineering in Rutgers University have found that high-quality graphene could be produced using simple methods. That could potentially mean millions of dollars saved in making the new compound that would be used for new electronic devices.
The discovery has been made by students, most of whom are either undergraduates or are post-doctoral associates, as Phys Org reports. This has been made possible in part to the culture of curiosity and research in the university's Materials Science and Engineering Department and the School of Engineering, as professor and associate chair of the Materials Science and Engineering Department Manish Chhowalla said.
Graphene has been seen to be the new material compound for electronics since it is 100 times much stronger than steel. It also conducts electricity better than copper. It is not surprising that graphene can be stronger than still, given that its base origin is graphite. Graphite itself is a carbon-based material and can be found in diamond, the hardest mineral known.
Already there is a technique used to create graphene. This involves chemicals. However graphite can come into contact with oxygen, and when it does so the resulting graphene might be poor in conducting electricity, as Azo Nano observes.
With the research done by the students at Rutgers University, it has been found that exposing exfoliated graphene oxide for even one second on a 1,000 W microwave oven can eliminate almost all of the oxygen found on it.
Funding of the research has been made possible through the National Science Institute, Rutgers Energy Institute and the U.S. Department of Education among others.
Research in other areas is also being done, such as one where DNA could be made as computer storage, as iTechPost reports.
