Recent articles [1, 2, 3, 4] show that people are interested in producing graphene in many differ ways.\u00a0 The referenced articles provide descriptions of various means of manufacturing graphene.\u00a0 Reference 1 covers a few of the methods.\u00a0 Slide 10 in reference 3 lists a number of suppliers with their manufacturing process listed.\u00a0 There are a large number of other articles available on the manufacturing methods.<\/p>\n
There is concern that there could be a safety issue in that a sheet of graphene can enter cells.\u00a0 Reference 5 mentions that a thickness of less than 4 nm provides the ability to enter into cells.\u00a0 Reference 6 states: \u201cThey found that the jagged edges of graphene nanoparticles, super sharp and super strong, easily pierced through cell membranes in human lung, skin and immune cells, suggesting the potential to do serious damage in humans and other animals.\u201d\u00a0 Let\u2019s consider this issue.\u00a0 First produced graphene has a small area and is normally attached to a carrier.\u00a0 That gives it thickness that reduces or eliminates the possibility of being a cutting edge.\u00a0 To be a source of danger, the graphene sample would need to be much larger than currently manufacturable.\u00a0 If it were larger in area, does it retain its stiffness? Or does it tend to bend?\u00a0 If it bends, does that reduce or eliminate the probability of being able to do damage?<\/p>\n
To examine this from a different viewpoint, consider hydrogen.\u00a0 As an element, it is the lightest.\u00a0 Consequently, some of the early \u201clighter-than-air\u201d devices were constructed with hydrogen as the lifting mechanism.\u00a0 The unfortunate consequences of hydrogen\u2019s reactivity with a proper stimulus is evidenced by the destruction of the von Hindenburg zeppelin.\u00a0 In today\u2019s environment of protect first on the real or imagined potential harm, work on using hydrogen would be strongly opposed.\u00a0 This would have eliminated the possibility of hydrogen fueled vehicles.\u00a0 The energy comes from the combination of hydrogen and oxygen, which yields power and water.\u00a0 Knowing the reactivity of hydrogen, there are means of reducing the dangers of hydrogen as used in vehicles.\u00a0 What will the application of graphene or carbon nanotubes yield that will provide benefit for humanity?<\/p>\n
Reference 7 states: \u201cAll interesting nanomaterials have peculiar properties, and being declared hazardous does not doom a material, since many hazardous materials are already successfully used in semiconductor manufacturing, including lead, mercury, and cadmium.\u201d\u00a0 We must remember this in the development of any nanomaterial product and provide sufficient safety precautions.<\/p>\n
With the strong emphasis on graphene, it raises the question: \u201cIs this emphasis on graphene diverting attention on other similar materials?\u201d\u00a0 Graphene is a hot research topic, but there are other two-dimensional materials.\u00a0 (Any three dimensional material that is only one atom thick is normally qualified as having no thickness or being two-dimensional. Among these materials are Boron Nitride, MoS2<\/sub>, Bi2<\/sub>Te3<\/sub>, Bi2<\/sub>Se3<\/sub>, with new ones being added regularly.)<\/p>\n There is another question that needs to be asked.\u00a0 Assume that some of these developments are actually producible.\u00a0 What are we going to do with them?\u00a0 How will they make life better?<\/p>\n References:<\/b><\/p>\n [1] http:\/\/spectrum.ieee.org\/nanoclast\/semiconductors\/nanotechnology\/high-quality-graphene-could-be-produced-in-bulk<\/a><\/p>\n [2] http:\/\/www.extremetech.com\/extreme\/180977-graphene-breakthrough-could-dramatically-reduce-cost-increase-production<\/a><\/p>\n [3] http:\/\/web.ornl.gov\/adm\/partnerships\/events\/Dec_Spark\/Speight_Graphene%20v5.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n [4] http:\/\/gigaom.com\/2014\/05\/23\/graphene-production-could-scale-up-with-this-new-technique-out-of-mit\/<\/a><\/p>\n [5] http:\/\/www.pnas.org\/content\/early\/2013\/07\/09\/1222276110.full.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n [6] http:\/\/www.gizmag.com\/graphene-bad-for-environment-toxic-for-humans\/31851\/<\/a><\/p>\n