Graphene promises to revolutionize the fight against climate change. This material, which is considered one of the most valuable discovered to date, could improve the batteries that store green energy, optimize the use of fuel by airplanes, capture part of the CO2 that the industry is pouring into the atmosphere and even create clothing that suits the warmer climate of the future.
Graphene was discovered by scientists Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov in 2004, which earned them the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics. From then on it was classified as the 21st century material and today the applications that can be given continue to grow.
It is a substance composed of pure carbon, with atoms arranged in a regular hexagonal pattern, similar to graphite. It is an almost transparent material. A one-atom-thick sheet is about 200 times stronger than today’s strongest steel, being its density more or less the same as that of carbon fiber, and about five times lighter than aluminum.
Graphene is so valuable because it is an ideal thermal and electrical conductor. It is capable of reacting with other substances to produce other compounds, it heats up less than other materials when conducting electricity, it uses less energy than silicon in the same task (for example, when it comes to giving a battery to current mobiles), it generates electricity when receiving light and in its oxidized form it absorbs radioactive waste.
Great energy storage
Perhaps the application for which graphene is known is that of storing energy. This material is the ideal candidate for the manufacture of the electrodes of lithium-ion batteries and for creating supercapacitors.
This application has a lot to say in the fight against climate change. In fact, graphene is believed could revolutionize the concept of renewable energy and it will raise it to a wide variety of applications for graphene oxide paper, including its use in membranes with controlled permeability and for batteries or ultracapacitors intended for uses in the energy field.
These energy storage devices could help to store sudden peaks of energy, therefore, they would help to make the most of green energies, regardless of their irregular supply. This material promises to change the concept of renewable energy and raise its efficiency to levels unthinkable today with silicon batteries.
Aviation fuel
Graphene could also help make aviation more harmful to the health of the planet. As it is now configured, the aviation sector produces 900 million tons of CO2 per year, according to IATA. By 2050, if nothing is done to reduce the carbon footprint of this industry, the figure will rise to 1.8 billion tons.
The sector announced a few months ago that it is working to achieve net zero carbon emissions by the middle of this century and graphene could be a great ally to enable them to achieve this goal.
Currently se are developing new fuel additives with tiny graphene sheets, which could make airplanes fly even faster while optimizing the fuel used. This advance would undoubtedly constitute a turning point in the use of combustion engines in aviation.
Filter CO2 and store it
Graphene can even be used to capture carbon dioxide from power plants and industry, as it would be enough to make a filter of this material. Research carried out at the Component Technology Center (CTC), located in Cantabria, has concluded that graphene may have this unusual characteristic.
The graphene filter they have designed is not only an effective ally against climate change, but it is also more efficient and cheaper than the alternatives available so far.
The inherent properties of graphene allow CO2 to be given a second life, since it manages to recycle it. And it is that, in combination with hydrogen or methane, the recovered gas can be converted into high-density fuel, compatible with any current energy infrastructure.
Water decontamination
This same research team has also worked on the use of graphene oxide to increase the efficiency of the process of removal of emerging pollutants found in water.
The process consists of the incorporation of a photocatalyst such as titanium dioxide on graphene oxide. Photocatalysts are materials that favor the degradation of pollutants with the help of light. In this way, graphene enhances this degradation capacity of emerging waste and accelerates the water decontamination process.
The incorporation of this new photocatalyst material would improve the performance of water treatment plants and purification plants against this type of waste.
Emerging residues are compounds of different origin and chemical nature, derived from multiple products such as pesticides, pharmaceuticals or toiletries. Current water purification systems are inadequate to treat this type of waste therefore, various technologies, such as the photocatalytic oxidation presented by the CTC, are called upon to solve this problem.
Graphene may even revolutionize the textile industry, that it must already begin to adapt to climate change. In addition to the laws that will force the reuse of textile waste, this material could help make garments more suitable for the climate of the future. Smart and adaptable clothing design may work to lower a wearer’s body temperature in very hot climates, as Earth’s is projected to be in the future.
Some problems with graphene
However, many experts point out that this material is having a hard time taking off in its practical application, since it has been talked about insistently for more than a decade, but it is still used in a very minority way. Although batteries made with this material are already being marketed, as well as other devices, the truth is that graphene production costs are still very high and this is slowing down its widespread deployment for uses where it would be most useful.
On the other hand, it is not totally innocuous from the environmental point of view, as some studies have drawn attention to the pollutant capacity of graphene in water in the event of spills.
Reference articles:
https://centrotecnologicoctc.com/2015/12/04/el-ctc-presenta-internacionalmente-sus-avances-con-el-grafeno-para-la-depuracion-de-aguas/https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abf0116