Robert Murray-Smith - 2021-04-27
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Glad you redid this one, I remember those original videos in your back garden! This is much better and explained really well.
cheers mate
Gotta say, watching your videos are both educational and fun.
Love your practical approach!
Thank you!
He sure has done a lot of graphene research. Packed a ton of quality references in this video just by gabbing on. This one is a keeper.
This is super bloody exciting stuff thanks mate.
The possibilities and uses for this are incredibly important for the future.
I've watched all of your old videos on this and so glad you are revisiting this.
cheers mate - the old one are a bit ropey and difficult to follow as they have no real structure
Thank you! I am a retired chemist and wasn’t sure how the individual layered graphite was produced.
Hi Rob. I use Concentrated Sulphuric acid and Nitric acid/Microwave method and various methods to separate the leaves afterwards, per your vid a couple of years ago. I works supremely well every time, and, it is safe, ie: no explosion risk. To make small graphene from large flake graphite I run it through a modified meat grinder with a HDPE disk with lots of .1 mm holes in it, or the marble and glycerine route. The marble method is best. Very high quality graphene.
marble glycerine method? do you have a link?
Well, sulphuric acid cost me one or the other lab coat in my chemistry times, back in the nineties... 🧪🥼
Today working with computers in an office (since last year even @home) is much healthier, on more than one level. 😊
Nevertheless, sometimes I do miss the olden times...
And graphene is so fascinating, so versatile. This channel gave me so many ideas for home usage. 😄👍
Thank you for your content. I have scoured the internet to find the simplest method of converting 300 mesh graphite into single or double layer graphene. I am clearly not a chemist and taking very small steps with a "safety first" approach. Most chemicals and items like a Kiln are simply not available in a small isolated country. Will either Potassium Nitrate or Sodium Hydroxide work as a substitute for Potassium Permanganate? I would consider the electrical separation method however purchasing a welding machine is not my first approach and appears to be a slower method. A total of 10-15 lbs of graphite will need to be converted. All suggestion are welcome.
Amazing, great idea to put all the graphene methods together!
if id knew enough about chemistry, id like to see if there is a compound, made of several atoms packed in a way that at room temperature fit loosely in between the graphene layers of the graphite. That "ideal compound" would stay flat or ball shaped at a certain temperature, but gets more 3d (expanded in the 3 x y z directions) when heated or excited, or perhaps placed under a magnetic field, helping to push part the layers of graphene and helping to provide the energy to break the pi bonds...... if it doesnt work....my b plan would be break the layers carbon sp2 bonds by resonating the "ideal compound" at the "self resonating" frequency (which of course shold be known in advance), until the compound goes wild going up and down helping to separate the sheets....
I know this is an older video but what if you combine this and your microwave method? Could it exfoliate it further to make yet again smaller partials
Genius! I love the # of videos! You guys are on it! Hacks the youtube algorithm by posting a video every day. Youtube pays attention to how many people watch until the very end, and comment.
Cheers.
Hey Robert, before I make my own, would love to know what you charge for let's say 10 kilograms of graphene? For cement and perhaps other projects. :).
Yeah . That is a great presentation Rob. Good Format..... Keep doing that.
this topic has the maximum of my attention...also would be interesting to learn to make carbon fiber...that would make some manufacturers not happy - they charge a lot for carbon fiber, not sure if the price is really justified. I would definitely join again
carbon fibre is just burnt PANi mate
Excellent! A comprehensive summary of graphene production methods. Great idea!
Just a niggling little point: it would be most helpful to spell out in the description the names of the referenced investigators (or products, etc.). I have had problems in the past trying to suss out the correct spelling to find the original references. (Is it "Hummus" or "Hommous" or what? "Tour" or "Toor" or "Toire" or "Teuor" or ?) English is not all that phonetic, after all, and names, not very much either. :-)
Many thanks for your work, Rob!
that is a good point mate - some things just don't occur to me and I think you are spot on here - it's hummer's and tour - not for you but for others reading this post mate - cheers
@Robert Murray-Smith Thanks, Rob! Much appreciated.
If there's any series of videos that I've watched on your channel that was in need of a camera quality update, the Graphene production vids would bubble expediently to the top!
lol - yeah I thought that lol
this kinda looks like the first remade video, you talked about in the "changes to the channel" video, by the way a similar video about carbon nanotubes would be super nice
it is exactly that mate - well spotted
Last I heard, MIT was giving out their process of creating carbon nanotubes, if you requested. In fact, I think this is how the artist Stuart Semple was able to create his blackest black or whatever it's called, paint, using carbon nanotubes created from that process, as a base (and put in an acrylic medium).
Apparently, I have been living under a rock for a while 😆 . I saw some video titles here that had graphene in them, but since I didn't have a huge interest in building batteries, I never watched them. Something new to watch 👍.
lol - well it is the wonder material on everyone's mind
Seeing what you do a strong though comes in my mind: let the chemists do the chemical work. If I do what you just did surely something will blow into my face fastest that I could realize. You're a chemist and you know how to play this game. We, the non-chemists enjoy your presentation. Regardez mais pas touchez as a Frenchman will say. Cheers mate!
yeah - it does take practice that's for sure
Sulfuric acid is not nearly as dangerous as often portrayed. There was a period where I was working with it a fair amount, and for awhile, I didn't realize that my butyl rubber gloves had tiny pin holes that where allowing acid to get through. I was using my hands to swish around cellulose in acid. Anyways, even after a few days of this, no real damage was done. Just irritated and dried out my skin a bit. Definitely wear goggles though.
Golden graphite. Sounds like the gem. Would be nothin to keep in a bath and still make use of.
Hey Robert Murray Smith.
Thank you so much for showing us these things.
In school the teachers were nothing but confusing. They refuse to answer questions. They refused to demonstrate what they were talking about.
Also the school textbooks were confusing and incomplete.
Government-controlled, government paid for substandard; so-called education in the United States.
In the United States as a first world country we are ranked 39th in education. That means 38 other countries have a better educational system than we do as first World countries. I wonder if we're in last place.
With your videos I realized I am capable of comprehending and understanding something, if I rewind it enough times and think about what you said, and listen to it again. Eventually I get everything you're talking about if I listen to it enough times rewind it enough times and think about it enough times.
The public school system in the United States is abomination.
I am glad you find it useful and interesting mate - cheers
I confess my ignorance, maybe this is how they already do it. Still, I actually looked up "how do you make nanobots" and came across a site describing a shrinking method. Yep, the molecules have the same density, but they shrink the size in some medium.
So, I already knew about hydrogels and 4D printing; you can make a flat 'print' that rolls up like a carpet. I just put two and two together and thought why not make the 4D carpet with a layer of graphene contained within. Then roll it up and shrink it? Voila, carbon nanotube. Seems feasible enough.
How do they make those things anyway?
Err, yeah...this post was about carbon nanotubes. But, since that's an application of graphene, I thought it was kinda relevant. ;)
you can make CNTs with a candle
Always informative and applicable
cheers mate
@Robert Murray-Smith cheers 🍻👍
Nothing screams "Robert-Murray Smith-video" like good ol graphene
lol
FWG = Faffing With Graphene.
Dear Sir, are graphene or graphene oxide toxic to humans in any form?
Thanks for the overview's and posting this plus all your previous talks Dr Rob. I disliked most of my science teachers but you I'd rather hear because you occasionally laugh which sets me off too.
As a lime plasterer I'm wondering why's it good in concrete, what's it do, would it keep damp at bay if a current passed through it for instance?
it was the Romans who discovered the addition of carbon strengthened cement mate but the use of volcanic ash - graphene just updates that really
@Robert Murray-Smith, thanks for the reply Robert, the Romans weren't to know that immersing the lime in seawater would produce Phillipsite in the lime mortar which are plate like objects that bend rather than shatter when the mortars put under stress. But you still didn't say what the graphene did in it.
Ah Graphene some thing i had not heard of till about 5 years ago. it might of been one of your videos that showed how to make it with sticky tape.
probably lol - I will be covering mechanical methods in another vid mate
any useful tests for varifying results of your labwork?
ramen, XRD, SEM and TEM are basic characterisation mate
Build an electron microscope or pay a lab a lot...
Nice work on the vlog guys, I just like watching you guys. Have a great day guys or sleep. Not you Rob no sleep for the wicked mate. Lol
lol - fair enough mate lol
If I remember correctly, making a one atom thick sheet of graphene you need cvd. Was wondering if there is a way to make a way to makeake that oven on your own?
that's one way mate - cvd is a bottom-up approach - and yes you can do it
@Robert Murray-Smith thx
I never understood why the resulting graphite is still multilayers, i.e. why doesn't the graphite intercalate fully? The reaction seems fast enough and the reagents are in excess.
because it is a real system with lots of variables we can't control mate - something always goes 'wrong' with real systems
Chemistry 101 Love it! DVD:)
awesome lol
dear robert
Could you substitute the manganate for 30% hydrogen peroxide?
- What if I only use sulfuric acid and nitric acid?
-And if I only use solfuric acid and then exfoliate it in the microwave?
-And if I only use 30% hydrogen peroxide, with graphite powder? I observe that it exfoliates, but I don't know if the result is graphene or graphene oxide, could you clarify it for me
Thank you
the job of the H2O2 isn't as an oxidiser mate - it is the make the 'left over' manganese dioxide form soluble sulphates so they can be washed out in the purification step
Is this true? 'Photoluminescence of Graphene Oxide' can you do an experiment on this? thanks
PLEASE MAKE A VIDEO ON EMF RF SHIELDING PAINT WITH THE RIGHT FORMULA. PAINT IS VERY EXPENSIVE IN STORES. THANKS A LOT. WATCHING IN CANADA
Would a sonic bath be a reasonable substitution for the stirring during intercalation? How would that affect particulate sizes would you suppose?
I think the sonic bath will make it hot and boom. Maybe sonic bath after expanding.
@Dan P I was thinking the sonic application while it is in an ice bath. Robert mentioned a sonic stirrer, and I think that was more what I had in mind I suppose.
sonication will heat it up mate - not good
@Robert Murray-Smith appreciate the clarification. Thanks a bundle!
You got that much from just half a gramm ? That is a massive volume increase !
if done well the exfoliate rate is astounding - incidentally this is what Petrik did - more or less
Hey Robert, Did you know Elon Musk has a 50 million dollar prize offer for a practical carbon capture method? Seems perfect for your knowledge, skills and chemistry acumen. My finder fee is only 5% if you win. A trival one at these sums.
I did know mate and well worth the 5% lol
Was R.Hummer expecting to dissolve the graphite into a chemical solution..,what might happen if mixed with lime and salt, will it dissociate into a warmed glass matrix.., is there such a thing as hot chemistry (where the fluids are hot).. should the NaOH be warm? (“..in some ways, this is the reverse process, of what happens inside the bovine digestive tract, using heat and pressure to form planar surfaces”)
What now?
Is there any real advantage to using sodium nitrate I think that's what you said sodium nitrate is an oxidizer? I only say that because it's so easy to make with any kind of chloride salt and electrochemical reaction I mean it takes a few days but it's really easy to make why am I telling you this I know you know this already I was just wondering if there's an advantage to a nitrate salt ?
How much Graphene can one make with 100 Million Metric tons of Graphite? ;) I have the Graphite, I need to check on the Acid. I have lots of potassium permanganate. Thanks for getting back to the Graphene. :)
quite a lot I would imagine lol
Keep in mind there are varying qualities of graphene, that you can over simplify into low, medium, and high quality categories. Most of these methods make low to medium which can be decent to good for things like batteries, super caps, increasing strengths of epoxy, concrete, etc. However, the holy grail of graphene research is producing the high quality stuff, the true 1 atom thick flat sheets that are super conductive, ridiculously strong for weight and volume, etc. It's been awhile since I've looked into graphene research, but last I checked, only a couple methods could reliably produce the high quality stuff, but they are not easy for most DIY'ers. One of them is using electrical or plasmic catalytic processes on things like oil, carbon dioxide, deposited on copper sheet.
The easiest way to tell that you have the high quality, true 1 layer graphene, is that it is completely transparent to the naked eye. If it's black, it's multiple layers, somewhat jumbled and/or stacked which affects electrical and structural properties adversely.
Personally, I became more interested in the hemp fiber conversion stuff, but from there, I started wondering about using pure CNC's (cellulose nanocrystals), and converting these into graphite, or rather a graphitzed form. Because if you isolate, and concentrate the crystalline structure of the material, it stands to reason that you'll likely get better electrical and structural properties. Also not on part with true, high quality graphene, but often better than the low to mid grade kind of in between graphite and graphene stuff.
I also moved away from hemp, because in my country (US) hemp, even "waste" hemp is not cheap or easy to get for the most part. I realized that any bast fiber with a high percentage of crystalline cellulose would work similarly, and even better if you isolate and concentrate what's there. So I did some research and figured out the cheapest material to source, and did some research and experimentation on how to do that. It's kind of a pain, because it's a multi step process, not even including the pre process of cleaning these well for chemical conversions. But first you have to bleach/get rid of the lignin, which neither the sulfuric acid nor enzymes do, then with the acid or enyzmes, you get rid of the soft/regular cellulose's at proper temps and ratios of acid to water and also proper time. This is not including all the rinsing in between the different reactions. If done right, this leaves you with a high purity/higher percentage of the crystalline cellulose. Then you have to carbonize it in low oxygen environment. And with a good and well insulated microwave kiln, you can graphitize it in a low oxygen environment.
This is all ok if you're make small batteries or super caps for yourself, but forget about selling to the masses. And who knows what regulations and rules of testing etc have to be done before selling actual batteries to people? Now, mixing some of this in, with some of the low to mid grade graphite-graphene hybrids is a little more economical and faster since it's a bit easier and faster to produce the latter than the former. And then further mix a bit of high quality, but regular graphite to further increase those factors.
But then you have to worry about other various things like optimal electrolytes and proper systems, which are all whole other can of worms in and of themselves.
And, if the new vacuum capacitors are a real thing/tech, it will make ALL of this stuff completely obsolete. If the claims are true or even half true, there is nothing currently or even in lab that is anywhere close to the energy density and power density of these vacuum capacitors that allegedly attract and store super cluster electrons, and apparently are pretty cheap and easy to build because there is no exotic materials or processes. Super clustered electrons are a bit of a controversial topic. But apparently, ball lighting is considered by some, to be a natural form of this phenomenon. Ken Shoulders, one of the researchers who stumbled on to these exotic state/form of electrons was first told by Feynman these were not possible, but later on, after other research/researchers indicated they were, he wrote an apology letter to Shoulders saying that he was wrong and that it is possible.
So, I'm hoping and praying that the company who patented and is working on these, actually is successful in getting to market because it is a game changer to everything electric. Oh, and these can be used to generate electricity as well, by super heating a filament inside of them. Graphene et al will still be useful for structural purposes, but electrical storage will be less of an important focus.
I still will be interested to see you make a paint on solar panel...
for sure
Hey, just curious, were you at B.P.L. at some point?
@Justin W What is that?
@Justin It's an abbreviation of the name of the forum I was on. I asked, because there used to be a Justin Baker on there. We occasionally talked via pm system.
Cant find your video on electrochemical exfoliation graphite on graphene, did you remove it?
WOW, You make me feel like a Gibbon climbing up the curtains!
lol - I have been doing this for quite a few years mate lol
love video great job
Ming Sai - 2021-04-27
FINALLY...Getting back to useful science based videos. Graphene is how I found the channel years ago.
Robert Murray-Smith - 2021-04-28
lol - cheers
Justin W - 2021-04-29
It's not so black and white. Most of the videos are science related and potentially useful. Learning how to convert or apply different things to other things, or learning how things work, can all be helpful when you start to approach creating things in a "systems" approach rather than a linear logical and narrow kind of way. Part of creativity is applying holistic thinking and perception.
With that said, I also found and really liked the channel because of the graphene and other battery stuff, and it's nice to see some more focus on that again. But it doesn't mean all these other videos were a waste of time or pointless.
Ming Sai - 2021-04-29
I disagree. I think only about half of the newer ones are good - and the other half are (insert word here). I hope the channel can emphasize quality over quantity.
Justin W - 2021-04-29
@Ming Sai Most of the info is free to us. We the viewers should be grateful and appreciative that so much information is being shared that is free.
If you're going to complain, at least become a paying member first.
Ming Sai - 2021-04-29
Thank you justin. I am an Engineer that lives across the pond...I watch for entertainment purposes and I make very few comments but only to help the channel move in a good direction. I am also quite old and I am designing an electric vehicle (not a car) and video 1070 hit a nerve because the advice was so bad. I wish you guys the best of luck. With respect always.