Graphene, one of the best material to capture solar energy and generate electricity

Hello friends of Stemit, today on the day of light, I want to tell you about a material that seems to be taken out of the DC Universe. If someone could give much use to this material, it would be Bruce Wayne (LOL). This material is so interesting that besides having important physical and chemical properties it can also capture light and transform it into electricity more efficiently than other traditional materials.

Graphene is a substance composed exclusively of carbon with atoms arranged in a regular hexagonal pattern, similar to graphite. A Graphene sheet with the thickness of an atom is 200 times stronger than steel. The density of Graphene is about the same as carbon fiber and is five times lighter than aluminum.

If it´s similar to graphite? Why does it have these special properties? Because everything depends on the arrangement of its electrons and the way in which the carbon atoms are join together. In its molecular structure, each carbon atom has four electrons that interact with the rest of the nearby atoms. Three of these electrons are joined with the electrons of the three adjacent carbon atoms forming covalent bonds with angles of 120 ° on the same plane.

The fourth electron of the carbon atoms is free, perpendicular to the graphene plate. Since electrons cannot be alone, they tend to bind with free electrons from adjacent atoms, generating an π-type orbital formation. This type of formation occurs when free electrons do not find anything to interact with and in the case of having other substances nearby; free electrons tend to join with them. When there is another sheet of graphene nearby, the free electron’s come together and form graphite. These free electrons allow to improve the conditions of any surface where it is applied. Graphene is a hard, resistant, flexible and very light material, which allows it to be molded according to the case. In addition, it conducts heat, electricity and remains in stable conditions when subjected to great pressures.

Due to its properties, Graphene can be used in machines with which radiographs are made. Due to the ionizing radiation, the materials around it wear out very soon; however, graphene would have an almost infinite duration.

If we recapitulate, graphene is as hard as diamond, it is transparent, it is incredibly elastic, more than carbon fiber, it can produce graphene airgel, a material about 6 times less heavy than air but which can absorb 900 times its weight. Graphene has a great thermal conductivity, has properties that allow it to cool, if you manage to tear a sheet of this material, the electric force of the free electrons would attract other carbon atoms, which means that it self-repairs! And the most curious thing is that the carbon atoms are so small and are so tightly bound that almost nothing can pass through a sheet of graphene, however, the water passes through it as if there were nothing.

If we think about it, the dark knight could use this type of material to reinforce his armor, can you imagine?
In addition to making all these things so interesting, recently it was discovered. Graphene is an incredible electric conductor that hardly warms up when conducting. It is so sensitive when it comes to conducting, that it can generate electricity when light hits it, being able to generate electricity through solar energy, which makes it a very promising material in the field of clean energy.

Scientists from the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO) of Spain demonstrated that graphene is capable of converting an absorbed photon into multiple electrons that can conduct electric current, which makes it an important alternative to solar energy technology that is currently based on conventional semiconductors like silicon. Frank Koopens, leader of the ICFO research group, said:

"In most materials, an absorbed photon generates a single electron, but in the case of graphene we have seen that an absorbed photon is capable of producing many excited electrons, and therefore a greater electrical signal"

This property makes Graphene an ideal component for the construction of any device that wants to convert light into electricity. Even, it is already talking about the production of solar cells and light detectors that absorb the energy of the sun with much lower losses. The experiment to prove this consisted of sending a known number of photons at different energies onto a thin layer of graphene. Klass-Jan Tielrooij ICFO researcher explained that:

"We have seen that high-energy photons - for example, violet-colored ones - induce a greater number of excited electrons than low-energy photons - for example, infrared -.”

It was already known that Graphene was able to absorb a very large spectrum of colors of light; however it is the first time that it is shown that, once the material has absorbed this light, the efficiency of energy conversion is very high. Koppens stated:

"Our next challenge will be to find ways to extract the electric current and improve the absorption of graphene, and then we will be able to design graphene devices to make way for more efficient solar cells"

This discovery allows us to dream about future technologies similar to what happened with the invention of plastic. From cell phones that fold, electronic paper, windows that are both transparent solar panels, pots and pans that warn if there is any bacteria in food are some of the things that could develop in the not too distant future.

Credits to www.fotogramas.es

Thanks to @sirknight for the #celestialchallenge.
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Source
https://www.seeker.com/tech/materials/graphene-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-miracle-material
https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/211437-extremetech-explains-what-is-graphene
http://blogs.rsc.org/cs/2012/02/28/graphene-and-related-compounds-review-collection/?doing_wp_cron=1519005497.9680280685424804687500
http://grafeno.com/aplicaciones-del-grafeno-un-viaje-al-futuro/
https://www.infografeno.com/
https://computerhoy.com/noticias/hardware/nueva-forma-convertir-electricidad-luz-gracias-grafeno-46490
https://www.muyinteresante.es/tecnologia/articulo/luz-en-electricidad-con-grafeno