The research, led by Professor Jonathan Coleman, Trinity College Dublin, in collaboration with Professor Robert Young of The University of Manchester, potentially offers exciting possibilities for applications in new, inexpensive devices and diagnostics in healthcare and other sectors. The team’s findings have been published in the leading journal Science*.
Professor Coleman said: “What we are excited about is the unexpected behaviour we found when we added graphene to the polymer, a cross-linked polysilicone. This material is well known as the children’s toy Silly Putty®. It is different from familiar materials in that it flows like a viscous liquid when deformed slowly but bounces like an elastic solid when thrown against a surface. When we added the graphene to the silly putty, it caused it to conduct electricity, but in a very unusual way. The electrical resistance of the G-putty was very sensitive to deformation with the resistance increasing sharply on even the slightest strain or impact. Unusually, the resistance slowly returned close to its original value as the putty self-healed over time.”
Following the initial development work at Trinity College Dublin scientists at the NGI at The University of Manchester analysed the structure of the material and were able to develop a mathematical model of the deformation of the material which explains the effect of its structure upon its mechanical and electrical properties.
Professor Young, Professor of Polymer Science and Technology at the NGI said: “The endless list of potential applications of graphene, never ceases to amaze me. We have now developed a new high-performance sensing material, ‘G-putty’, that can monitor deformation, pressure and impact at a level of sensitivity that is so precise that it allows even the footsteps of small spiders to be monitored. It will have many future applications in sensors, particularly in the field of healthcare. The collaboration has been undertaken under the umbrella of the European Graphene Flagship, in which Trinity College Dublin and The University of Manchester both play a prominent role. It is an excellent example of what is being achieved in the Flagship programme.”
Read the Graphene Flagship press release.
The Graphene Flagship is, along with the Human Brain Project, the first of the European Commission's Future and Emerging Technology (FET) Flagships, whose mission is to address the big scientific and technological challenges of the age through long-term, multidisciplinary research and development efforts.
"Graphene never ceases to amaze, and this is yet another example. The Roadmap for applications of graphene and related materials has identified sensors, composites and biomedical applications as clear areas of interest, and this result validates the path taken by the Flagship", Professor Andrea Ferrari, Science and Technology Officer of the Graphene Flagship.