My first Magazine SFI Little Book - April Re-print edits included | Page 24
4
40
Layers for Better
Plastics and Computers
Smaller, faster computers, more efficient batteries
and greener plastics could be on the way if we can
use tiny flakes or nanolayers of certain materials.
Prof Jonathan Coleman and his team at the Science
Foundation Ireland funded AMBER centre in Trinity
College Dublin, have developed a method to split these
materials into billions of such layers. One example is
graphene, atom-thick sheets of carbon with immense
strength and the ability to conduct electricity. Prof
Coleman figured out how to use a soapy solution to
turn cheap lumps of graphite into billions of precious
graphene layers. These flakes could be added to plastics
to make them stronger while keeping them light.
However, they have many other applications in areas
such as electronics and sensing and energy storage.
www.ambercentre.ie