Art meets Science

Material scientists have found a way to apply the ancient art of kirigami – a way of building complex structures by cutting and folding paper – to the wonder material graphene. The experiment shows that ripples in a graphene sheet can increase the bending stiffness of the material significantly more than expected – a discovery that could lead to new types of sensors, stretchable electrodes or tools for use in nanoscale robotics.

Wrinkling of the graphene sheet improves its mechanical properties, similar to how a crumpled sheet of paper is more rigid than a flat one. In fact it was such mechanical similarities that enabled the researchers to translate ideas directly from paper models to graphene devices. 

The concept of manipulating two-dimensional materials to generate more complex structures could open the door and possibilities include new sensors, stretchable electrodes that could be used in robotics or nanomanipulators, tiny machines that can move things around with nanometer precision.

Source: http://theconversation.com/folding-graphene-like-origami-may-allow-us-to-wear-sensors-in-our-skin-45346

I love writing Review Papers, NOT, for now anyway

I really don't but here are some great tips!

1. Brilliant Topic

If you are an amateur in writing like myself here. find yourself a topic of your interest with a direct and precise title.

2. Obviously, RESEARCH

Compile your reads in a table form and summarise the topic of interest to efficiently recall the literatures. The table will come in handy later on when you are writing the big pain in the ass.

3. Focus

The excessive information is easy for the tendency to cover too many things. At the same time, keep the review broad in interest and relevant in a wide applications.

4. Critical discussion

Don't just summarise, include mapping of ideas, identify criticle issues and predicting potentials of the reviewed paper.

5. Tell a story

Connect the dots. People can tell if you are merely copy and pasting stuff so be your own story teller.

6. Feedback

Supervisor, colleagues and reviewers could greatly help improve a review draft.

7. Study nook

Writing a great piece of review paper requires a shitload mass access of information, so prepare yourself to hide in a cave for weeks if not months. Be comfortable, a place with minimal distractions, get ready of snacks and write away!

Is graphene hydrophobic or hydrophilic?

Air humidity can affect graphene's performance through changes in its mechanical and electrical properties - it is therefore critically important to obtain knowledge of graphene's water affinity. the findings indicate that graphene's hydrophobicity is strongly thickness-dependent; single-layer graphene being significantly more hydrophilic than its thicker counterparts.

Published in the American Chemical Society journal ACS Nano

Source: http://www.npl.co.uk/news/is-graphene-hydrophobic-or-hydrophilic

Graphene

Graphene is a form of carbon, the basis of all known life on earth. Graphene is one of the strongest, lightest and most conductive materials known to humankind. 

Imagine “crystals one atom or molecule thick, essentially two-dimensional planes of atoms shaved from conventional crystals,” said Nobel winner Andre Geim in New Scientist. “Graphene is stronger and stiffer than diamond, yet can be stretched by a quarter of its length, like rubber. Its surface area is the largest known for its weight.”

“It’s about the smallest you can get,” Novoselov told Wired Science. “From the point of view of physics, graphene is a goldmine. You can study it for ages.”

Graphene is attractive in terms of its strength, transparency, and conductive properties. 
The Manchester team in 2008 created a 1-nanometer graphene transistor, tinier than the smallest possible silicon transistor.

A new type of graphene-based, flash-like storage memory, more dense and less lossy than any existing storage technology was discovered. 

Companies currently using carbon nanotubes are beginning to switch to graphene, which is thinner and potentially less expensive to produce. Much of the emerging research is devoted to devising more ways to produce graphene quickly, cheaply and in high quantities.

Graphene could replace rare and expensive metals like platinum and indium, performing the same tasks with greater efficiency at a fraction of the cost.

GEEK SPOT

Hey to the first reader of EpsilonZetaOmega, myself! I finally found the heart to write again, and the sole creation of this new blog is to keep track of my research progress. I came across a blog three years back, that records down his research findings precisely & that got me super inspired! However, me being me, I procrastinated the idea and distract away from it. So yeah, I am sitting in Coffee Journey reading articles and the intention just kicks in that I should start this whole blogging journey that has tugged my heart for such a long time. Who knows someday that I finally win a Nobel Prize and this blog's going to worth billions. Bleh. Yep. I'll do it :) For the sake of holding myself accountable to progress as an independent PhD student and my long drifted passion for writing should not be wasted away. INTRODUCTION DONE!

Ending with a quote from my favorite scientist of all time,

"Instinct is something that transcends knowledge." -Nikola Tesla