Produce infinite clean energy thanks to graphene. According to a new study conducted by physicists at the University of Arkansas, a new property of graphene could be exploited to generate an unlimited amount of energy
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves himProduce infinite clean energy thanks to graphene. A new property of the graphene it could be exploited to generate an unlimited amount of energy.
A chimera that has always been pursued but which now seems closer to reality. Graphene is a versatile material whose properties have been extensively explored for energy production. However, while studying graphene's ability to wobble, physicist Paul Thibado and a group of students discovered a previously unknown behavior in which the material warps and twists through small random fluctuations. By adding two electrodes to either side of a thin graphene sheet, a small voltage is produced which can be increased through the layering of multiple sheets.
Paul Thibado's research has shown that the movement of two-dimensional materials could be used as a source of clean and limitless energy. Thibado and his students studied the movements of graphene, which is made up of a single layer of carbon. Generators in this way could allow any object to send, receive, process and store information, powered only by the heat of the ambient temperature.
To study the movement of graphene, Thibado and his students placed papers on a copper grid that served as a scaffold. Then they used a scanning microscope to observe the movements.
"We have separated each image into sub-images" has explained the professor. Thibado. "Each area of a single image, when observed over time, has produced a more meaningful pattern."
In this way they were able to observe both the small Brownian movement (ie the disordered motion of the particles present in the fluids) and larger and more coordinated movements. In the latter, the entire corrugation bent and moved as would a thin piece of metal that is repeatedly flexed.
The pattern of this small random movement combined with larger sudden movements can be observed in a variety of contexts but is the first time it has been observed in an atomic scale inorganic system.
Graphene and infinite energy
Graphene has natural "ripples" that reverse their curvature as atoms vibrate in response to ambient temperatures, scientists at the University of Arkansas have discovered.
“This is the key to using the movement of 2D materials as an energy source,” said Thibado. Unlike atoms in a liquid that move in random directions, the atoms connected in a graphene sheet move together. This means that their energy can be harvested using existing nanotechnology.
Thibado took the first steps towards creating a device capable of transforming this energy into electricity and has received a provisional patent for this invention, called the Vibration Energy Harvester, or VEH.
On graphene, read also:
- GRAPHENE: ECO-SUSTAINABLE MATERIAL OF THE FUTURE, FROM SMARTHPHONES TO PHOTOVOLTAIC
- HOW TO REMEDIATE DANGEROUS WASTE WATER THANKS TO GRAPHENE
- PHOTOVOLTAIC: THE SEMI-TRANSPARENT WINDOWS THAT PRODUCE ENERGY
It will certainly take years before it can work in our homes, but it is yet another confirmation that alternatives to fossil fuels already exist.
Francesca Mancuso
