Stop Being Awesome Graphene - Nano-Thermal Imaging Possible
13 replies, posted
[QUOTE]Traditional devices for thermal imaging are relatively bulky, because the mechanisms that detect the mid- and far-infrared radiation need to be cooled significantly. A team of engineers from the University of Michigan have made a sensor that can detect the [URL="http://www.ns.umich.edu/new/releases/22042-thermal-vision-graphene-light-detector-first-to-span-infrared-spectrum"]infrared spectrum at room temperature[/URL]. Because the sensor is made of graphene and therefore extremely small, the team could potentially put this technology into all sorts of things, including heat vision contact lenses. The technology has been described in the journal[URL="http://www.nature.com/nnano/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nnano.2014.31.html"][I]Nature Nanotechnology[/I][/URL].
Graphene is a honeycomb-shaped arrangement of carbon that is only one atom thick. Previous attempts to use graphene as a light sensor have failed, as the material is not able to absorb enough light to trigger the necessary electrical signal, as they only absorb about 2.3% of the light it comes into contact with. One of the researchers, Zhaohui Zhong, described traditional graphene sensors as about one thousand times less sensitive than current commercially available sensors.
Zhong and his collaborators were able to remedy the problem by thinking about it backwards. Instead of trying to bolster the amount of electricity produced by the graphene, they focused on how the electric current produced by the light is affected by the material.
The sensor works by putting a insulator between two sheets of graphene, the bottom of which was charged. When light hits the top layer, it frees electrons that are able to slip through the insulation down to the bottom layer. The electrons leave positively-charged holes in the upper layer, which affect the charged bottom layer and create the signal needed to identify light. The operation is based on certain principles of quantum mechanics that the team was able to exploit.[/QUOTE]
Where's my [URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQANDuFYvsc"]lightscribe drive[/URL], I want this now.
[URL="http://www.iflscience.com/technology/graphene-light-detector-could-lead-heat-vision-contact-lenses"]SOURCE[/URL]
.......so when are we going to see an actual gadget on the market using graphene/carbon nanotubes?
Heath vision contact lenses
Holy shit!
[QUOTE=Jodern;44304945]Heath vision contact lenses
Holy shit![/QUOTE]
That's some James Bond shit right there.
[QUOTE=TestECull;44304910].......so when are we going to see an actual gadget on the market using graphene/carbon nanotubes?[/QUOTE]
You have a point considering how easy it is to make graphene and the plethora of research done upon it in the last 5 years you would expect that.
I guess not much application research has been done since its still in the lab and not at an engineer's workbench.
[QUOTE=TestECull;44304910].......so when are we going to see an actual gadget on the market using graphene/carbon nanotubes?[/QUOTE]
When humans magically get the ability to be exposed to it safely?
[QUOTE=Ardosos;44305037]When humans magically get the ability to be exposed to it safely?[/QUOTE]
Can you elaborate on this at all? I wasn't aware Graphene was that significant a health hazard.
[QUOTE=MrWhite;44305228]Can you elaborate on this at all? I wasn't aware Graphene was that significant a health hazard.[/QUOTE]
Last I checked it was like asbestos, the material is so thin that it can slice through the cell walls or something to that effect.
Probably as a result of me mis-reading [url=http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/nn204229f]this article[/url] or something.
[QUOTE=Jodern;44304945]Heath vision contact lenses
Holy shit![/QUOTE]
I can't wait to see the world through the eyes of a delicious Heath bar.
[QUOTE=Ardosos;44305241]Last I checked it was like asbestos, the material is so thin that it can slice through the cell walls or something to that effect.
Probably as a result of me mis-reading [url=http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/nn204229f]this article[/url] or something.[/QUOTE]
You have the general idea right in the sense that the body's immune system recognizes it as a foreign object and attempts to attack it and fails. However, that's only the case when the material is in the form of nanoplatelets, essentially atomically flat, quasi- two- dimensional colloidal CdSe, CdS, and CdTe layers with well-defined thicknesses ranging from 4 to 11 monolayers, and inhaled into the lungs.
These nanoplatelets cause inflammation in the lungs and pleural space, which triggers an immune response typically. When they deposit in the lungs and pleural space, macrophages, a type of white blood cell from the immune system, attempt to engulf and destroy them. Because they're made of an inert material, it's basically a wasted effort since it won't break down much in this lymphocyte and is most likely re-released by the cell into the body. That doesn't include any harmful effects from exposure to foreign matter in the body in of it's own, by the way. I don't know if there are any articles detailing specifics on effects of graphene nanoplatelet exposure in exclusion to the inflammatory and immune responses.
Graphene, while not the most important material in the next 100 years, will be seen as the breakthrough that made modern(future) materials science what it is.
each and every thing they do with this is incredibly important to humanity.
[QUOTE=Ardosos;44305037]When humans magically get the ability to be exposed to it safely?[/QUOTE]
I highly doubt a set of NVGs using photosensors based on the tech presented here is going to magically be a health hazard, specifically because the graphene is within a chip and is in no way able to be exposed to the user. And frankly, I'm tired of hearing "Graphene this!" "Nanotubes that!" and not seeing a single practical application of any of it. We've been hearing about these so-called miracle materials for long enough that [i]something[/i] should have been marketed using them at this point.
We get it, these things can do cool things. Now make them do those cool things already. The rest of the world is waiting for the day they can buy a pair of aviators that, in daylight, act as normal aviators, yet at night act as milspec NVGs.
[QUOTE=TestECull;44309292]I highly doubt a set of NVGs using photosensors based on the tech presented here is going to magically be a health hazard, specifically because the graphene is within a chip and is in no way able to be exposed to the user. And frankly, I'm tired of hearing "Graphene this!" "Nanotubes that!" and not seeing a single practical application of any of it. We've been hearing about these so-called miracle materials for long enough that [i]something[/i] should have been marketed using them at this point.
We get it, these things can do cool things. Now make them do those cool things already. The rest of the world is waiting for the day they can buy a pair of aviators that, in daylight, act as normal aviators, yet at night act as milspec NVGs.[/QUOTE]
... no... DEVELOPMENT TAKES TIME
[QUOTE=TestECull;44309292]I highly doubt a set of NVGs using photosensors based on the tech presented here is going to magically be a health hazard, specifically because the graphene is within a chip and is in no way able to be exposed to the user. And frankly, I'm tired of hearing "Graphene this!" "Nanotubes that!" and not seeing a single practical application of any of it. We've been hearing about these so-called miracle materials for long enough that [i]something[/i] should have been marketed using them at this point.
We get it, these things can do cool things. Now make them do those cool things already. The rest of the world is waiting for the day they can buy a pair of aviators that, in daylight, act as normal aviators, yet at night act as milspec NVGs.[/QUOTE]
how dare researchers take more than 5 years to develop a technology into a usable consumer product!
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