Growing Defect-Free Graphene
No matter how amazing a material may be, if it cannot be produced in large enough quantities, it will be useless to society. That is why researchers across the globe are working to develop ways of mass producing graphene. Now a group led by researchers at the University of Oxford has found a way to grow graphene without defects, and the method should be scalable to large sizes.
Chemical vapor deposition is one of the more traditional means of growing graphene. It involves filling a chamber with hot carbon atoms that cool and fall onto a substrate at the bottom, similar to snow falling and covering the ground. Also like snowfall, the carbon atoms can first collect in different places, and with different orientations. Eventually these graphene 'domains' will grow and bump into each other, but because the different orientations do not line up correctly, there will be defects at the seams. What the Oxford researchers have found is that the atomic structure of a copper substrate and the pressure applied while the graphene grows can be used to align the domains, and thereby remove the defects.
In theory this approach can be scaled up to produce sheets of defect-free graphene as large as desired, so long as there is a copper substrate for the atoms to land on. If graphene-based technology is ever going to reach consumers, such a means of production will be required.
Source: University of Oxford
Read More ...
G.Skill Announces Fastest 32GB DDR3 Set G.Skill is adding a 32GB DDR3 kit to the Trident X line of memory, creating the world's fastest set of 32GB memory. The kit, which has model number F3-2800C11Q-32GTXD, features four 8GB sticks that make up the only 32GB kit operating at 2800MHz with CL11. The Trident X line of memory is a good match with the Z77 chipset and Ivy Bridge CPUs from Intel. Read More ...
J.J. Abrams and Valve in Talks to Work Together J.J. Abrams is the man behind television and movie hits such as Lost, Cloverfield, and the Star Trek remake. In addition to his upcoming work on the new Star Trek and Star Wars movies, Abrams joined Gabe Newell of Valve at the 2013 DICE Summit today to discuss the potential of the two parties working together. The pair cited a new game that Abrams wants to work with Valve to make as well as the potential for a movie based on the Portal or Half-Life games. A follow-up discussion with Abrams confirmed that "we are really talking to Valve, we are going to be bringing on a writer, we have a lot of very interesting ideas." Source: Polygon Read More ...
New Navy Ship to be First with New Waterjets When tasked with defending the world's superpower, it makes sense that the American military is constantly trying to develop and utilize new and better technologies. The Office of Naval Research has recently announced that the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Milwaukee is going to be the first of its ships to utilize a new waterjet design, to improve performance and reliability. (Littoral Combat Ships are smaller ships designed to operate near shore.) For thrust the typical ship uses large propellers, but this technology has many disadvantages such as cavitation. When machinery rotates in water, it is possible for a pressure differential to develop that will generate air bubbles; this is cavitation. Over time these bubbles can cause parts of the metal to wear away, which means it will have to be replaced. Waterjets however are less susceptible to cavitation, which means they will have to be replaced less often. This is due to their smaller design with a nozzle that produces higher static pressure. The specific design of waterjet to be used on the Milwaukee can move almost a half million gallons of water in a minute, which is more than modern commercial waterjets. When completed, the ship will have four of these, propelling it to speeds above 40 knots (46 mph). Source: Office of Naval Research Read More ...
'evasi0n' Jailbreak Amasses 1.7 Million Uses in First Day iOS jailbreak 'evasi0n', released yesterday, has amassed 1.7 million uses in the first day of release. The jailbreak, compatible with iOS 6, and 6.1 has been used on the iPhone 5, the iPad Mini, and the iPad 4. 'evasi0n' is unique as it allows the jailbreak to write data to the iOS kernel, which has not previously been exploited. Apple has responded to the release of 'evasi0n' through updating its online jailbreak warning page to include the hazards involved in jailbreaking. The page warns users of the instability, battery life, unreliability, and security vulnerabilities that jailbreaking can use, however owners of Apple devices appear to have ignored this warning. Source: CNET.com Read More ...
Building Nanostructures Around Living Cells When asked to imagine a scientist at work, some people will envision a spectacled person in a lab coat behind a collection of beakers. On the same table as those beakers, some may envision several petri dishes containing all kinds of microorganisms. Now researchers at the Vienna University of Technology are looking to move past the flat petri dish by constructing 3D nanostructures for the study of cells and tissues. Many cells are strongly affected by their surroundings, including some stem cells which will develop into different kinds of cells depending on the surface they are on. That dependence on the environment for so many cell types is why the researchers have received a grant to develop a method to easily produce nanostructures with specific properties. Their plan is to start by suspending the cells to be studied in a special liquid. This liquid will not harm the cells but can be converted to a firm polymer when exposed to the focus of a laser, so by moving a laser through the solution, the nanostructure for the cells to grow on can be constructed. Such a nanostructure should prove useful in many ways as it will not only allow scientists to expose cells to a variety of environments, but also keep it in one similar to what it prefers. Potentially that could allow for drug testing to be done completely within a lab, instead of with living creatures. Source: Vienna University of Technology Read More ...
Hardware Roundup: Wednesday Edition Today's roundup contains a review on another solid state drive, this time focusing on the Intel 335 Series 240 GB. As solid state drive prices decline, it is hard to imagine not seriously considering one for your system if you haven't already made the switch. However, drives like the Western Digital 2TB drive reviewed here will continue to have a place, especially when it comes to storing large amounts of data cheaply. Neoseeker brings us a look at the AZZA Silentium 920 mid-tower chassis, a sub-$100 basic case with a pair of 120mm fans and 5 internal 3.5" drive bays. Rounding out the list today are a couple of headphone reviews and an article on the Hauppage HD PVR 2 Gaming Edition designed to make it easy to record gaming footage from your console players. Cases AZZA Silentium 920 Case @ Neoseeker Media Players Hauppage HD PVR 2 Gaming Edition @ XSReviews Mobile BlackBerry Z10 @ TechSpot Speakers/Headphones Razer Kraken Pro Gaming Headset @ ThinkComputers RHA SA950i Portable Headphones @ Benchmark Reviews Storage/Hard Drives Intel 335 Series 240 GB SSD @ [H]ardOCP Western Digital WD Black WD2002FAEX 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache HDD @ Madshrimps Read More ...
Available Tags:DDR3 , Valve , Hardware ,
No comments:
Post a Comment