Graphene conducts electricity 10 times better than expected, puts lithium-ion to shame

Vyralize: Walt de Heer, a physicist at the School of Physics at the Georgia Institute of Technology, has developed a new method of producing graphene nanoribbons, allowing for electricity transfer that is about 10 times faster than theoretially expected along graphene nanoribbons produced via more traditional methods.

- Comments (11)

Speed-Racer3969d ago

Hopefully we can go back to the days of waiting a week before charging our phones :)

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ZoyosJD3969d ago

Why exactly is graphene's conduction capabilities being compared with Li-ions which are used for energy storage?

Those speeds suggest completely different applications, not that it is going to be better in applications like energy storage as well.

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Speed-Racer3969d ago

I read somewhere that it has a much much higher storage capacity as well. Some months ago though.

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ZoyosJD3969d ago

I remember an article on porous graphene super-capacitors a few months back heralding it for it's charge/discharge rate for energy storage for electric vehicle breaking, but only having an energy density of 1/3 to 1/2 of li-ion.

Do you happen to remember which graphene format the article covered? These nano ribbons would likely be even more geared toward moving electrons rather than storing them.

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Speed-Racer3969d ago

http://gizmodo.com/these-ne...

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ZoyosJD3969d ago

Much obliged.

According to the MIT source that article referenced the porous graphene had an energy density of just over 64 watt-hours/ kg which is still a bit too low to be replacing/ matching Li-ion for a lasting charge.

With the expected jump to solid state li-ion in the next year or two I don't expect graphene to match it without an extensive new process, but at least we do have something to look forward to as far as phone battery life increasing.

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Speed-Racer3969d ago

It's definitely too early indeed. I suspect it may not make the market till another 5-10 years. At least they're figuring out the distribution channels, so cells could potentially charge in possibly minutes instead of hours. Very interesting stuff.

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ZoyosJD3968d ago

As far as charge times go, cables and connectors are still largely a limiting factor. In fact, the improvements seen in new USB 3.0 supporting phones and tablets has been pretty substantial from what I heard second hand.

I also remember a video about a Nokia phone being charged in a few seconds with a "lightning bolt", so I think means of delivery may be the largest issue.

I'm thinking along the lines of 7 years or longer before implementations really have any impact seeing as graphene research has only exploded recently. Still the possibilities are really intriguing.

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Bimkoblerutso3969d ago

This sounds like the perfect technology for some massive corporation to buy up and sweep under the rug to save a few corporate fat cats the headache of altering their ancient business models.

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