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Physicists have patented an explosive new way of making graphene.

Graphene is a single atom thick layer of carbon atoms organized in a hexagonal pattern. This makes graphene the world’s thinnest material and since its discovery in 2004, it has seen a host of useful applications because of its structural and electronic properties. One application, for instance, may be in the creation of new nano-batteries, or in the creation of smaller, more efficient electronic components. However, to tap into its potential, you need a way of mass producing it.

Previously, expensive machinery, chemicals and catalysts have been used to manufacture graphene, but now, a team of scientists from Kansas State University have found a method of producing the material in bulk, using only three ingredients: Oxygen, hydrocarbon gas, and a spark plug. Their method involves filling a chamber with acetylene or ethylene, pumping in oxygen, and then using a regular spark plug (the same you’d find in a car) to create a small controlled explosion. The detonation causes graphene to form in the chamber, which can be collected afterwards.

Chris Sorensen, Cortelyou-Rust university distinguished professor of physics, is the lead inventor and has been given a patent on the discovery. “We have discovered a viable process to make graphene,” he said. “Our process has many positive properties, from the economic feasibility, the possibility for large-scale production and the lack of nasty chemicals. What might be the best property of all is that the energy required to make a gram of graphene through our process is much less than other processes because all it takes is a single spark.”

Chris Sorenson (center) and his team, doctoral student Justin Wright (left) and postdoc Arjun Nepal (right)

The discovery came as a happy accident as part of another experiment (quite a common thing in science). Sorenson’s team was attempting to create and patent carbon soot aerosol gels. They created the gels by filling a 17-liter aluminum chamber with acetylene and oxygen and detonating. The soot from the detonation formed aerosol gels that looked like “black angel food cake,” Sorensen said. It was only afterwards that the team discovered that their gel was actually graphene.

“We made graphene by serendipity,” Sorensen said. “We didn’t plan on making graphene. We planned on making the aerosol gel and we got lucky.”

source: Phys.org