The development of materials

While many people believe that the world will become more and more hot and crowded, the resources and materials are too small and people must compete more to own it. Researchers at the University of Texas, Austin, USA, conducted research on new ideas, technologies and policies aimed at making the world richer.

>>> The development of the biomedical field

In the third part of the " Big question " series, Professor Rod Ruoff answers the question: " What can you do for the richer world? "

Professor Rod Ruoff

The history of materials has evolved from the use of natural materials such as wood, stone, animal skin and other artificial materials for humans to create materials such as ceramics, metals, glass, synthetic materials and semiconductors (electronic materials).

While life on earth has been based on carbon, the new way to align carbon atoms to produce new materials is at the height of a transition from basic scientific research. to scale production will lead to the introduction of a series of systems and devices in the coming decades with unmatched performance.

Energy, large-scale structures, automobiles and aircraft, information technology, electric motors, chemical and biological sensors and medical devices, will especially affect the whole life. society. The process of energy regeneration and the use of carbon materials will radically alter the way electricity is generated, including the storage and use of solar cells and fuel cells, supercapacitors. electricity and batteries, and done in high voltage transmission lines. The extraordinary power and lightweight carbon structure made of new graphite (like graphene) and diamond will replace steel, aluminum and other materials.

Carbon electronics with exceptionally fast conversion speeds, and ultra-thin graphite plates have the potential to replace copper metal in traditional engineering, antennas, superconductors, and possibly electric motors. one-third of the weight of a conventional motor.

The development of new carbon sheet materials shows outstanding power storage capacity in both performance and capacity compared to lead acid batteries. Low-density nanotubes are continuously developed from strong, rigid composites and graphene-coated materials on large areas and new forms of ultra-thin graphite sheets that allow aircraft design. , cars and with special improvements in fuel economy due to significant weight reduction.

Medicine can use new carbon nanotubes, carbon is probably the only material for sealed nonmetallic microelectronic devices for biomedical applications.

Ultra-thin graphite and graphite materials will be used separately in thermal management applications, computer chip cooling or in designing energy-efficient buildings. 3-D porous carbon atoms also have an attractive link structure (" negative curving carbon ") will play an important role as the base electrode material for supercapacitors.

What is particularly interesting is what people can call " elements of life " on earth, which is carbon: When it exists in pure form and when it is in 3-D form (diamond , graphite, other forms), 2-D (like graphene sheets, " honeycomb structures " of C-C bonds), or 1-D (carbon nanotubes). Carbon, with such diverse structures, will promote a new industrial revolution in the future.