Graphene! Everything we build will soon be made with this mono-carbon material
Already considered better than silicon for electronics and heat-shielding, more versatile than plastic as a building material for composites, graphene offers mind-boggling endless product upgrades for everyday products we use. Laboratories around the world are racing the clock to work the material into everything from light bulbs to TV screens and eventually for future gadgets like wearable, flexible mobile phones.
Mono-Carbon is Stronger and Superconductive
It is the lightest and strongest material ever configured
by materials scientists. It can even conduct heat and electricity
better than anything else without degrading, and thus can be used with
plenty of applications and improve the performance and efficiency of
current materials and substances.
The future will have plenty of useful things made with graphene but here is a list of what we think are the most amazing products that may be available in the next 5 years as the material is adapted for current and retro technologies:
Retro-audio Coolness: Indestructible Vinyl and Cassette Tapes
Remember vinyl and cassette tapes being vulnerable to warping from excess heat, humidity and from getting worn down from repeated use? Graphene may make these old favorites almost indestructible. We can have retro-style, audio media for everything from music to video and more. Works for DVD media and data storage hard drives too and all levels of electronic media storage like thumbdrives because graphene is stable and has very good conductive properties for solid state devices.
Cassette tapes have already found new life when Sony remanufactured them using new magnetic polymers for data storage media, imagine what graphene can do for this format. The current Sony data storage cassettes can store up to 138 terrabytes of data, up to 3,700 times more than a single Blu Ray format CD.
Cheaper Desalination and Water Filtration Tech
Drinking water is not going to be that expensive or difficult to source anymore. Graphene has proven to be THE best water filtration component for new designs for desalination plants. A graphene filter can block salt as well as toxins and harmful compounds but allow H20 through. Expect the technology to mature and allow every geographic area in the world to get their drinking water from the sea and just pipe it inland to urban centers. Aside from desalination plants, sewage treatment facilities get a super boost with graphene filtering systems outperforming any current technology for grey water recycling. Expect more off-grid home systems to become viable once graphene-built water treatment systems are mass produced and available or even accessible thru open source and DIY handyman kits.
When graphene filtration technology does become viable, it may even be adapted for extraction of heavy water (H3O)--also called heavy hydrogen from the deep and allow for an economical way of getting cheap alternate energy resources. Bendable Screens and Wearable Gadgets
Most gadgets made right now are fragile, using glass screens and delicate electronics. Once adapted for use for mobile gadgets, the flexibility and strength of graphene (100 times stronger than steel) may allow brands to make ultra-slim and 'bendy' or flexible and wearable gadgets--even see-through devices like some reviews have pointed out.
Graphene-made film screens might allow mobile gadgets to forego glass and other fragile and expensive building materials. As for the main electronics components themselves, its excellent conductive properties and super-strength allow graphene to replace silicon boards, gold circuits, diodes and use the mono-carbon material for almost every possible application for a very sturdy, flexible and heat resistant product.
Tech for Film-Thin Solar Cell Apps
Alternative power from solar cells may also get a boost when graphene applications finally allow flexible solar panels as thin as plastic film yet with the capacity to generate plenty of electricity. Expect graphene solar cell film sheeting unobtrusively covering window glass, building surfaces, and even roof panels in the future when power conversion ratios have been optimized for scale production.
Batteries become Obsolete
Researchers have designed a prototype for a super efficient portable capacitor that can render current battery tech obsolete. The super capacitors are said to charge up faster and keep more power for longer periods of use. Getting rid of the toxic chemical heavy batteries and using graphene capacitors might revolutionize portable electronics. We hope they can retro-fit and design such capacitors into current battery size formats to allow even old devices and technology to still be used and increase the green footprint of graphene.
current solid state technology battery bank wikicommons CC BY-SA 2.5
All of that amazing stuff coming soon from the same material as the lead of a pencil.
