Gizmorama - July 15, 2015

Good Morning,

This is the third time that a story about graphene has caught my eye. Graphene is going to be the material of the future! Take that, plastic!

Learn about this and more interesting stories from the scientific community in today's issue.

Until Next Time,
Erin

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*-- Graphene-based film helps cool electronics --*
GOTHENBURG, Sweden (UPI) - Soon, there will be no choice but to begin writing about the dwindling number of things that graphene can't do. It's becoming less of a surprise each time the wonder material claims another advantage.

It's latest ability: cooling. Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, in Sweden, have developed a graphene-based film that effectively and efficiently cools electronic systems.

As modern electronics get increasingly complex, and yet squeezed into increasingly slimmer, more compact packages, overheating has become a puzzling problem.

Graphene -- the material made of a single-atom carbon layer -- to the rescue. The solution was detailed this week in the journal Advanced Materials.

Previous research showed that a layer of graphene had a cooling effect on silicon-based electronic systems. But the cooling effect was minimal, so researchers stacked more layers to amplify the effect. It worked, but also presented another problem. Extra layers diminished the material's ability to remain adhered to the device.

Now, researchers at Chalmers say they've solved the adhesive issue.

"We have now solved this problem by managing to create strong covalent bonds between the graphene film and the surface, which is an electronic component made of silicon," researcher Johan Liu said in a press release.

After testing a number of additives, researchers found that treating the graphene with (3-Aminopropyl) triethoxysilane (APTES) molecules -- as well as a heating and hydrolysis -- was the best way to create extra sticky silane bonds between the graphene film and the electronic component.

"Increased thermal capacity could lead to several new applications for graphene," Liu said. "One example is the integration of graphene-based film into microelectronic devices and systems, such as highly efficient Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs), lasers and radio frequency components for cooling purposes. Graphene-based film could also pave the way for faster, smaller, more energy efficient, sustainable high power electronics."


*-- Scientists discover why plutonium doesn't stick to magnets --*
LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (UPI) - Plutonium is definitely a metal. But unlike all other metals, it cares little for magnets and their so-called magnetism. In fairness, magnets care little for plutonium and its standoffishness.

But why don't magnets and plutonium get along? Scientists have been befuddled by the absence of attraction for some time. New research, however, has revealed an answer. The key to their disassociation lies in metal's electrons.

Electrons circle the nucleus of an atom in shells or orbitals, some closer and some slightly farther out. Each shell has a maximum number of electrons it can contain. For metals, the max capacity of their atoms' outer shell is fixed.

In a stable, grounded state (uninfluenced by heat, electricity or other outside forces), the number of electrons in metals like copper and iron is always the same.

But when scientists took a closer look at the outer orbitals of plutonium atoms, using a method called neutron spectroscopy, they found a less predictable population of electrons -- sometimes four, sometimes five, sometimes six, sometimes more.

The constantly rotating cast of outer electrons make it impossible for plutonium and its unpaired electrons to line up with an abutting magnetic field.

The discovery proves that plutonium's magnetism is not necessarily missing, only sporadic; it also explains why the metal is so unstable.

"It provides a natural explanation for plutonium's complex properties and in particular the large sensitivity of its volume to small changes in temperature or pressure," Marc Janoschek, a researcher the Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory, said in a press release.

Janoschek is the lead author of a new paper on the discovery, published in the journal Science Advances.

More than just revealing plutonium's atomic secrets, the new research will help scientists more accurately predict and model the behavior of new materials.

"A predictive theory of materials is a big deal because we eventually will be able to simulate and predict properties of materials on a computer," Gabriel Kotliar, a physics professor at Rutgers, told LiveScience. "For radioactive materials like plutonium, that's a lot cheaper than doing an actual experiment."

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