Graphene and nanotubes needed on a macro scale

Polish graphene coatings that conduct electricity and heat in the future could help remove ice from airplanes. Nanotube sheets, on the other hand, recover our body’s natural heat and power devices. Electrical properties of carbon materials are being studied by Dr. Dawid Janas.

– A single nanotube is 10,000. times thinner than a human hair. Such nanotubes and graphene flakes perfectly conduct heat and electricity. My goal is to assemble a billionoin such nanotubes or graphene into a macroscopic object. So I create sheets and onokna, and then study the electrical properties of such materialsow – explains Dr. Dawid Janas of the Silesian University of Technology.

The scientist was working on his PhD at the University of Cambridge in the UK. Currently running a National Science Center project for researchers coming from abroad. He is a grantee of the START program of the Foundation for Polish Science. He also received a LIDER grant from the National Research and Development Center.

As he explains, graphene sheets or włokna can be imagined as if they were a sheet of paper. Their example use is an aircraft de-icing systemow. The proposal developed by the Polish scientist is currently being tested by one of the manufacturer’soin the aerospace industry.

– Winter is a bad time for aviation. If the plane is icy, before takeoff, a machine has to come to it and spray lod with hot ethylene glycol. Such a process is time-consuming, environmentally inert, opoFlying and costs an expensive 1,500 or so. Euro for each such de-icing – mowi Dr. Janas.

The researcher proposed to cover airplane wings with flexible sheets made of nanomaterialsoin carbon. Such nanomaterials have excellent electrical conductivity, so letting electricity flow through such a sheet causes heat to be emitted there immediately. – And in this way we can ow lod elegantly melt without the use of heavy equipment. Pilot moheads would launch such a system before takeoff by pressing a single switch, and passengers, for a change, would arrive at their destination on time, the talk dreamsowca PAP.

Nanomaterials, whichore allow the conversion of current into heat, they also enable the reverse process. Another idea Dr. Janas is developing in his work is to use waste heat and convert it into electricity. As he calculates, waste heat is generated when we drive a car, use a computer or when our phone heats up. Such unwanted heat is a problem, ktory need to be removed. In this wayob, without any use, it escapes into the atmosphere and we lose energy, for which weorą we worked so hard. As it turns out, using sheets of nanotubes and flakeoin graphene, waste heat can be converted back into electricity. Such sheets can be m.in. install in cars, increasing their efficiency.

In the team formed thanks to the LIDER grant, Dr. Janas plans to use metallic sheets and nanowires to improve their electrical conductivity as much as possible. Scientists will create a nanomaterial thatory will convert heat into electricity very efficiently. Possible applications our talkowca presents with a wink.

– I have calculated that a person working in an office, a type of scientist, emits into the atmosphere about 100 watts ofoin heat per day. If we could take just 5 watts ofow, we could power a smart watch, ktory shows heart rate, number of calories burned, body parameters, it even has a function to show the time of day – jokes the researcher. – The sheets, whichore to be the project’s research target, it will be possible to mount on the inside of such a watch. As a result, we would not have to charge it, as it would be powered by our body heat.

Dr. Janas’ research is located on the borderline between basic and applied science. The properties and functionalities of the materialoin coal still need to be explored, and their applications are only just drawing on the horizon. At the Silesian University of Technology, analyses prepared on the basis of zaroThe analysis is based on materials purchased commercially, as well as those produced at the university. Wspohe cooperation with suppliers allows researchers to study exactly these properties of the nanomaterialoin, whichore of interest to them. The researcher admits that in the past these novel materials were very expensive, but as demand increases, the more the manufacturer isow. Today, nanotubes can be purchased in tons, and their prices are not prohibitive. For that, research in the area is essential.

– We are using more and more electricity in the world, devices are becoming more efficient, such as phones, but materials thatore we use today, achieve theiroj limit. Therefore, carbon nanostructures prob we replace these classical materials. The Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age have passed; now the Nanotechnology Age is underway, concludes Dr. Janas.