Physics News

According to a new study, membranes based on the material graphene can be used to distill alcohol. The researchers wrote in the journal Science that they created the membrane from graphene oxide, which is a chemical derivative of graphene. Graphene is the thinnest known material in the universe and the strongest ever measured.  it conducts electricity and heat better the any other material as well. A University of Manchester academics won the Noble Prize in Physics in 2010 by demonstrating the variety of properties Graphene has. Graphene oxide is the same graphene sheet, but is randomly covered with other molecules like hydroxyl groups OH.  Graphene oxide sheets stack on top of each other and form a laminate. The laminates the team used in the study are hundreds of times thinner than a human hair, but still are strong, flexible and easy to handle. When the team sealed off a metal container with the laminate, they said even the most sensitive equipment was unable to detect air or any other gas, including heliu