Selected from the archive for the Patents collection — a quick, visual way into the topic before you go deeper.
Maybe you have heard of graphene. For many it was the holy-grail of material sciences. This material is a single layer of carbon atoms. The carbon atoms arrange to make a honeycomb shape. With a thickness of one carbon atom, it is considered two dimensional, yes TWO-DIMENSIONAL. It is essentially the thinnest layer of graphite. There are such a massive amount of uses for graphene, but current methods to manufacture it are extremely expensive and difficult. As it turns out, a company by the name of Graphene 3D Labs has filed a provisional patent for the manufacture of graphene using 3D-printing. Basically combining one of the most legendary materials of today with one of the fastest growing manufacturing processes. Woah. This bombshell could literally change technology applications over night if the scientists at Graphene 3D Labs can back their patent up. Some properties of graphene to consider... It is the thinnest, most conductive, strongest material we know of. Yes, all three. Despite all these properties, its made of carbon, and we have A LOT of carbon. The mass production of such a material could make many current materials become obsolete. This video may give you a better perspective.