Graphene based adsorbents for electrochemical applications.

2010年诺贝尔物理学奖授予了曼彻斯特大学的Geim和Novoselov教授，以表彰他们对石墨烯的分离和表征。石墨烯是一种只有一个原子厚度的独特二维碳材料。这种材料具有不同寻常的性能，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，我们的目标是利用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“内分泌干扰化合物”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，它们是由使用药物产生的废弃化学品和人类废物产生的。石墨烯基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，从而实现材料的重复再利用。此外，石墨烯薄膜价格低廉，具有高导电性。导电膜是电池和燃料电池等能量转换系统的关键部件。石墨烯膜的使用可能使创新电池技术的成本效益扩大，以存储电能，增强电力供应网络的灵活性，提高风能和太阳能等可再生能源发电的可行性。此外，石墨烯材料已被发现具有很高的催化活性，这可能会提高效率或取代电池和燃料电池系统中的贵金属催化剂。

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. Moreover, graphene membranes that are inexpensive and have high conductivity have been developed. Conductive membranes are a key component in energy conversion systems such as batteries and fuel cells. The use of graphene membranes may enable cost effective scale-up of innovative battery technologies for storage of electrical energy, enhancing the flexibility of electricity supply networks and improving the viability of renewable energy generation such as wind and solar power. In addition, graphene materials have been found to have high catalytic activity, which may enhance the efficiency or enable the replacement of precious metal catalysts in battery and fuel cell systems.