tech
Did Edison accidentally make graphene in 1879?
Rice University chemists replicated Thomas Edison’s seminal experiment and found a surprising byproduct.
TL;DR
- Graphene, the thinnest known material, has numerous promising real-world applications.
- A new study proposes that Thomas Edison might have created graphene as a byproduct of his early incandescent light bulb experiments.
- Researchers recreated Edison's process using carbon filaments heated rapidly, achieving temperatures conducive to graphene formation.
- The experiment successfully produced turbostratic graphene, though definitive proof of Edison's production is absent.
- The findings suggest that revisiting historical technologies with modern scientific methods could uncover previously unknown discoveries.