
Twisting Stacked Graphene Reveals Potentially Powerful Superconducting Behavior - _Microft
https://gizmodo.com/magic-twist-in-stacked-graphene-reveals-potentially-pow-1823529900
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Iv
Physicist joke: there is only one thing that graphene is unable to do :
getting out of the lab.

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montecarl
Its interesting that graphene does have superconducting behavior, but its
still does not occur until very low temperature[0]. This is a brand new
discovery, so it will be exciting to see how it advances. There are more
degrees of freedom to be explored: doping, twist angle, multiple layers, etc.

[0] "The graphene sheets still required temperatures around 1.7 degrees above
absolute zero, -456.6 F, to demonstrate superconductivity."

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azhenley
Does anyone know how difficult/expensive it is to get something that cold?

It seems like it would be virtually infeasible, but I really have no idea.

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Iv
In terms of costs your thresholds are the boiling points of nitrogen (77K,
surprisingly cheap and easy to deal with, even for a hobbyist) and helium
(33K, more expensive,scarce, requires more energy to condense). To get lower
than that, you need your own cryogenic cascade as I doubt you can easily buy
something as ridiculously dangerous as liquid hydrogen (boiling point of 4K,
explosive in contact with oxygen).

At less than 2K I think that the only merits of this discovery are
theoretical.

I don't think that anyone believes that superconductors below nitrogen
temperature have any viability outside the lab.

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Dylan16807
You mixed up the temperatures for hydrogen and helium.

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Iv
Thanks!

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charleyma
Has there been any commercial use case for graphene yet?

I feel as though I've been hearing about its potential constantly for many
years, but can't recall any commercial use cases yet.

(side note - it also reminds me of the many hours I spent using the scotch
tape method and looking at my chip under microscope to try and identify
graphene...)

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ben_w
Apparently it’s already being used for supercapacitors:
[https://newatlas.com/adgero-ultracapacitor-trailer-
kers/4299...](https://newatlas.com/adgero-ultracapacitor-trailer-kers/42991/)

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puranjay
I think I'm approaching my 10th year anniversary of hearing the wonderful
things graphene can do.

Curiously, it might also be the 10th year anniversary of hearing that the
graphene revolution is "just around the corner"

That's a long corner to turn

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DrBazza
I'll see your graphene and raise you a fusion.

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swebs
At least there's progress being made there:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITER](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITER)

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TuringTest
Who would have thought the Moiré interference pattern could have a large
physical effect? The hexagons generated from the twist shown at the top image
form clearly visible long paths.

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Terr_
To recycle some musings from a similar article a few months ago:

> Layperson question] Looking at that moire pattern shown in the 1.1-degree
> rotated sheets, I find myself wondering about quantum-tunneling. No good
> reason, just the visual appearance of relative "voids" when the sheets are
> in-sync.

> Is there any known (or theorized) relationship between superconductors and
> tunneling? Does the "pattern repeat distance" of those 1.1-degree-twisted
> sheets come close to some important threshold that relates to electron-
> tunneling?

[https://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/82avjf/comment/dv9...](https://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/82avjf/comment/dv993ms)

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iamgopal
How far are we from graphene economy ?

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Ygg2
Time to economically viable fusion, multiplied by two.

