As we wait for more news about the E-Cat I think we should keep an eye on other areas of technological development that could prove highly significant — here is a something out of South Korea that may have far-reaching consequences. The Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT) along with researchers at Sungkyunkwan University have announced a breakthrough in the production of graphene that could help move this ‘miracle material’ into the commercial mainstream.
From Samsung’s blog:
“Through its partnership with Sungkyungkwan University’s School of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering, SAIT uncovered a new method of growing large area, single crystal wafer scale graphene. Engineers around the world have invested heavily in research for the commercialization of graphene, but have faced many obstacles due to the challenges associated with it. In the past, researchers have found that multi-crystal synthesis – the process of synthesizing small graphene particles to produce large-area graphene – deteriorated the electric and mechanical properties of the material, limiting its application range and making it difficult to commercialize.
“The new method developed by SAIT and Sungkyunkwan University synthesizes large-area graphene into a single crystal on a semiconductor, maintaining its electric and mechanical properties. The new method repeatedly synthesizes single crystal graphene on the current semiconductor wafer scale.”
Samsung, of course, is one of the world’s giant electronics manufacturers and innovators, and graphene could have a powerful influence in the world of electronics since it is renowned for its vastly superior conductive capacity, lightness and strength when compared to other materials. Graphene can also be stretched up to 20 per cent of its size without losing conductive properties, and can be submerged in liquid without oxidizing).
Samsung is heavily invested in developing wearable and flexible electronics (e.g. a phone screen that can bend and will not crack when dropped), and using graphene in these kinds of applications could really move electronics into a new level of performance. Many predict that graphene will eventually take over from silicon in the production of semiconductors because of its amazing properties. Graphene chips would be able to be smaller, lighter, stronger, and run cooler than today’s silicon chips.
Who knows where all this will lead, but when we consider the combination of new technologies like graphene, LENR, 3D printing, and robotics — we could find ourselves in a very different world within a few decades.
