How Graphene's Razor Edges Slaughter Microbes

Turns out not everyone likes graphene.

Turns out not everyone likes graphene.

Germs, for one, hate the stuff, and that fact has now become the basis for an entirely new branch of graphene research.

At Sweden’s Chalmers University of Technology, a team of scientists is studying the potential benefits of graphene-coated medical instruments and equipment, and the results have been somewhat horrifying —if you’re the microbe, that is.

With graphene’s unique atomic-structure and molecule-thick edges, bacteria and other infection-promoting organisms are unable to adhere to surfaces, instead sliding off and getting cut to ribbons in the process.

It’s so effective that an estimated 99.99% of microbes are eliminated without additional treatment.

This mechanical anti-microbial property comes with the added benefit of not evolving antibiotic-resistant “super bugs.”

Graphene’s War On Infection

Ivan Mijakovic, professor of Systems Biology at Chalmers University of Technology and one of the authors of the recently published study, explained in a recent interview:

“We are developing a graphene-based, ultra-thin, antibacterial material that can be applied to any surface, including biomedical devices, surgical surfaces and implants to exclude bacteria. Since graphene prevents bacteria from physically attaching to a surface, it has the added advantage that you do not risk increasing antibiotic resistance, unlike with other chemical alternatives, such as antibiotics.”

Researchers have also recognized potential applications for antimocrobial graphene coatings outside the sterile hospital environment — in less exotic places, like the kitchen.

Non-chemical or biological antibacterial properties like these could come in very useful in appliances such as refrigerators and dishwashers, and even on countertops and sinks, where bacteria find food, moisture and accommodating temperatures all in one place.

I know all of this seems a bit far-fetched, especially if you’ve been listening to promises of space elevators and regenerating airline wings for the last decade, but it’s the very banality of technology such as this that is a good indicator of just how close graphene is to making a major impact on consumer and industrial goods.

The First Supermaterial Since Plastic

Self-sterilizing coatings are one example, but there is another that’s even more timely.

Right now, one of the biggest stories nobody is talking about, is the emergence of lithium-free, graphene based batteries in the consumer market.

I specify lithium free because while “graphene-enhanced” batteries have been around since last year, everything currently on the market boasting graphene elements simply augments non-essential components, such as casings with traces of graphene.

It’s just enough to be able to advertise the graphene, but not enough to make these batteries functionally different from any other lithium-ion battery.

But a lithium-free, graphene-based battery, with graphene actually playing a role in moving electrons, is a completely different ballgame.

Graphene has a habit of improving products by leaps and bounds, and when applied to the guts of a rechargeable battery, the results are not surprising.

EVs equipped with these batteries can expect to run for 1000 miles or more between charges, last for more than one million miles, and charge in less than a minute.

That last part is no mistake or exaggeration either, we’re talking a 70x improvement in charge speed.

Charge Your Car In Less Time Than It Takes To Pump A Tank

They’re also much safer, more reliable, and all but fire-proof.

It’s really lithium’s worst nightmare, and with the one company in the world currently leading the race in the development of these batteries being Australian, it’s also China’s worst nightmare.

Because for the first time this century, China’s dominance over the rechargeable battery market can finally be realistically challenged.

You haven’t heard of this company yet.

Few have, but that’s all about to change because next year, we could start seeing the first pure graphene batteries on the consumer market.

Want to learn more about this publicly traded, materials-tech firm before the Wall Street Journal picks the story up?

That’s how the big money is made, after all… By getting in before the retail masses, not alongside them.

Right now is your chance to do it, with what could be the biggest thing in consumer tech since the arrival of the first li-ion batteries more than 30 years ago.

Click here to get all the facts.