Author Topic: Uses for Graphene Aerogel  (Read 11289 times)

Offline JasonAW3

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Uses for Graphene Aerogel
« on: 09/09/2013 03:42 pm »
Folks,

     Tme for some old fashion brainstorming...

     Just ran across this article today that talks about Graphene Aerogel.  It's supposedly less dense than Helium and twice that of Hydrogen, (Still means its' mass is higher, per volume but...)

     Supposidly this stuff can absorb 900 times it's mass in oil, so we know it can be used as a sponge and they say that it practically floats as it is.

     Here's the article;

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v494/n7438/full/494404a.html

     So, what other kinds of uses can anyone think of for this stuff?

Jason
My God!  It's full of universes!

Offline LegendCJS

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Re: Uses for Graphene Aerogel
« Reply #1 on: 09/09/2013 03:55 pm »
Perhaps with its great absorbency and (implied) wiking powers, Graphene Aerogel can be investigated for application in control of fuel location in fuel tanks, i.e. using capillary action to keep a tank "settled" as opposed to ullage thrusters or bladders.  I know this is already done with other wicking materials, but not enough to know if this material could be made to achieve higher performance (nice but a terrible goal in and of itself if the cost balloons)/ or lower cost for similar performance (which is more important).

« Last Edit: 09/09/2013 03:57 pm by LegendCJS »
Remember: if we want this whole space thing to work out we have to optimize for cost!

Offline JasonAW3

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Re: Uses for Graphene Aerogel
« Reply #2 on: 09/09/2013 04:07 pm »
Weird idea, probably wouldn't work, but...

     As most rockets tend to use Helium to pressurize the fuel tanks, and this stuff is so light, could it possibly be used to help in recovery of stages by slightly heating the helium saturated graphene filled tanks?  Sure, they would still be heavier than air, but the stage maybe bouyant enough to allow for a more soft landing or midair recovery, with a minmal TPS coating on the stages?

     Mind you, this is assuming a total purge of fuel and oxidizer from the tanks.  Heack, maybe purging the tanks to vaccume could do even better?  (Yeah, I know, the tanks would likely get crushed as they got lower in that atmosphere due to air pressure difference, even with the internal ribbing and antislosh baffels that many tanks have).

Just a thought...

Jason
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Offline Jim

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Re: Uses for Graphene Aerogel
« Reply #3 on: 09/09/2013 04:46 pm »
Weird idea, probably wouldn't work, but...

     As most rockets tend to use Helium to pressurize the fuel tanks, and this stuff is so light, could it possibly be used to help in recovery of stages by slightly heating the helium saturated graphene filled tanks?  Sure, they would still be heavier than air, but the stage maybe bouyant enough to allow for a more soft landing or midair recovery, with a minmal TPS coating on the stages?

     Mind you, this is assuming a total purge of fuel and oxidizer from the tanks.  Heack, maybe purging the tanks to vaccume could do even better?  (Yeah, I know, the tanks would likely get crushed as they got lower in that atmosphere due to air pressure difference, even with the internal ribbing and antislosh baffels that many tanks have).

Just a thought...

Jason

???
In what way would it work?
How is adding more material in a tank going to lighter than a tank just with helium?
When helium is used as a pressurant and the tanks are depleted of propellant, guess what is left?  A helium filled tank.  Guess what?  The difference between using nitrogen and helium as a pressurant is going to have little effect on bouyancy because the mass of the stage overwhelms it. And how is heating going to help?  Now to mention how is the heating going to be done.

Less throwing stuff on walls to see if it sticks and more thinking before hand.

Face it, new materials are not going to any real impact on space launch.  The issue is energy produced per mass of propellant and not the mass of the vehicle.
« Last Edit: 09/09/2013 04:49 pm by Jim »

Online edkyle99

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Re: Uses for Graphene Aerogel
« Reply #4 on: 09/09/2013 05:17 pm »
I think that NASA is looking at Aerogel use as an insulator.  There's also research into its use as a catalyst (I think that's the right word) to produce hydrogen-based fuels.  Maybe it could be part of a fuel cell process, for example.

Offline JasonAW3

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Re: Uses for Graphene Aerogel
« Reply #5 on: 09/10/2013 05:05 pm »
I think that NASA is looking at Aerogel use as an insulator.  There's also research into its use as a catalyst (I think that's the right word) to produce hydrogen-based fuels.  Maybe it could be part of a fuel cell process, for example.

I remember hearing about some work that's going on with graphene Anodes and electrodes for cracking water.  But I wonder if it would be as effective for ther reverse? 

Jason
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Offline cordwainer

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Re: Uses for Graphene Aerogel
« Reply #6 on: 09/17/2013 05:15 pm »
Well here is your graphene radiation shielding that they were talking about on another forum. Suppose it could be used in a dry cell tank for fuel cells, maybe even storage tanks for a gaseous fueled rocket if you can figure a way to unzip the "adsorbed" molecule from the sponge in an efficient enough manner

Offline cordwainer

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Re: Uses for Graphene Aerogel
« Reply #7 on: 09/17/2013 05:20 pm »
Could also be used to store gelled propellants I suppose.

Offline JasonAW3

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Re: Uses for Graphene Aerogel
« Reply #8 on: 09/18/2013 09:33 pm »
Could also be used to store gelled propellants I suppose.

Great...  Gotta squeeze the fuel out like a toothpaste tube...
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Offline cordwainer

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Re: Uses for Graphene Aerogel
« Reply #9 on: 09/27/2013 07:32 pm »
Well I  did say you would have to find an efficient way to "squeeze out" the adsorbed molecules, but that might not matter too much for dry storage applications in fuel cells. Also "pasty" fuels have been used in hybrid rockets before.

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