Graphene based adsorbents for electrochemical applications.

2010年诺贝尔物理学奖授予曼彻斯特大学的盖姆和诺沃塞洛夫教授，以表彰他们对石墨烯的分离和表征。石墨烯是一种独特的二维碳材料，只有一个原子厚。这种材料具有不同寻常的特性，具有许多潜在的应用，如触摸屏和太阳能电池板。在这个项目中，我们的目标是开发石墨烯的化学特性，用于水处理、电池和燃料电池。最近的研究表明，石墨烯表面可以选择性地去除水中的有毒污染物，这可能使问题污染物的去除成为可能。例如，人们越来越担心“内分泌干扰物”的存在，这种化合物会影响包括人类在内的动物的激素系统。这些化合物越来越多地出现在废水和供水中，产生于废弃的化学品和因使用药物而产生的人类排泄物。基于石墨烯的材料有可能选择性地从废水或供水中去除这些化合物。此外，还可以通过低能量的电处理来破坏石墨烯表面的污染物，使材料能够重复使用。

The nobel prize for physics in 2010 was awarded to Professors Geim and Novoselov at the University of Manchester for the isolation and characterisation of graphene, a unique two dimensional carbon material only one atom thick. This material has unusual properties with many potential applications such as touch screens and solar panels. In this project we are aiming to exploit the chemical characteristics of graphene for water treatment, batteries and fuel cells. Recent work has shown that graphene surfaces can selectively remove toxic contaminants in water, which may enable the removal of problem pollutants. For example, there has been increasing concern over the presence of 'endocrine disrupting compounds', which can affect the hormone systems in animals including humans. These compounds are found increasingly in wastewater and in water supplies, arising from waste chemicals and human waste due to the use of pharmaceuticals. Graphene based materials have the potential to selectively remove these compounds from wastewater or water supplies. Furthermore, it may be possible to destroy the contaminants on the graphene surface by a low energy electrical treatment, enabling the repeated reuse of the materials.