Scientists mix Silly Putty with graphene to create G-Putty.
Since the discovery of graphene which many hail as a wonder material capable of being the foundation for a new technological revolution, scientists tried to find new applications for it. Now, they have combined it with Silly Putty to create a very sensitive type of monitor.
A team of researchers led by Jonathan Coleman, a scientist at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, have found a new, inventive way of using the very versatile graphene in combination with the children’s toy known as Silly Putty. They published their discovery in the journal Science on Thursday.
Graphene has crystal-like formation the size of an atom, its capable of conducting electricity and its derived from a larger block of graphite. The material was first isolated by Russian-born scientists which received the Nobel Prize for their discovery back in 2010.
The Irish researchers named their new invention G-Putty. It has the capability of dramatically changing its conductivity when it any form of pressure is applied to it, either from being stretched or squashed. Coleman revealed that by compressing or stretching the G-Putty by even one percent of its normal size, it leads to a change in its conductivity by a factor of five, which is a very drastic change.
Coleman and his team also discovered that the new G-Putty has 500 times increased sensitivity to various strain sensors. To demonstrate its sensitivity, the researchers wanted to see if its picks up the steps of a small spider as it walks across the surface. Although the experiment faced some hurdles as controlling the spider proved difficult, the G-Putty did indeed detect the spider’s footsteps.
Its highly sensitive capacity enables a variety of medical applications as a monitor of various human functions, be it a baby’s breath, its heartbeat, and even blood pressure. However, further testing is still required before the researchers apply their invention for real world applications.
The idea of combining the graphene with Silly Putty belongs to one of Coleman’s graduate students, Conor Boland. He was interested to find out what would happen if the graphene gets mixed with the Silly Putty which is basically a specific type of polymer.
What do you think about this new invention?
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