Chinese scientists have developed ultra-light aerogel based on Graphene, braking the record of the world’s lightest material with surprising flexibility and oil-absorption.
Images © China’s Zhejiang University
The research team from China’s Zhejiang University in the Department of Polymer Science and Engineering lab headed by Professor Gao Chao, created by carbon nanotubes and grafen two types of ultra light of aerogel, also known as the ‘solid smoke‘.
Aerogel is the lightest material recorded by Guinness Book of World Records. It gets its name due to its internal pores filled with air. American scientist Kistler, in 1931, first produced aerogel with silicon dioxide, and nicknamed it “frozen smoke”.
Ph.D. candidate Sun Haiyan, said:
“It’s somewhat like large space structures such as big stadiums, with steel bars as supports and high strength film as walls to make both lightness and strength. Here, carbon nanotubes are supports and graphene is the wall.”
“With no need for templates, its size only depends on that of the container. Bigger container can help produce the aerogel in bigger size, even to thousands of cubic centimeters or larger.”
via gizmag
source Zhejiang University
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