Super Paper

[TheTwisted1]

According to this article from ScienceNOW, scientists at Northwestern University have found a way to make particles of graphene oxide assemble into thin, paper-like sheets as strong as carbon nanotubes, and which can be scaled to any size. It does tend to lose stability when immersed in water (much like kevlar does, IIRC), and thus commercial production is many years away, at least. The potential uses, though, are many (space elevator, anyone). And, as one Slashdot commentor posed, "Just imagine what Yomiko Readman could do with that paper!"
--The Twisted One"Welcome to Fanboy Hell. You will be spending eternity here, in a small room with Jar-Jar Binks and Dobby the house-elf."
"If you
wish to converse with me, define your
terms."

--Voltaire

[robkelk]

---

It does tend to lose stability when immersed in water
...
(space elevator, anyone)

---

Only if it never rains again...

-Rob Kelk
"Read Or Die: not so much a title as a way of life." - Justin Palmer, 6 June 2007
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Valles]

Hm. What about adding a lightweight protective coating to the stuff, like a layer of paint or something? Obviously that wouldn't be as nice as an innately waterproof version, but it should still be very useful... Most every version of the Elevator I've heard proposed required constructing the actual cable in space and then lowering it into position - if that was done, then most of the cable's volume could be load-bearing coils of this stuff with only a thin protective outer layer along the lower end - ie, the part actually in the atmosphere and exposed to water vapor.
Ja, -n

===============================================
"I'm terribly sorry, but I have to kill you quite horribly now."

[ordnance11]

---

Hm. What about adding a lightweight protective coating to the stuff, like a layer of paint or something?

---

Easy enough..apply a coating of aluminum to both sides a couple of microns thick. You'd have what looks like aluminum foil.
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

[jpub]

I've read further into this, and the problem is that by coating it with...well, anything...you'll lose some of the favorable properties of the paper.
The key, as they note in the article, is to make the constuction solvent something that isn't water, ideally so that the resultant paper isn't sensitive to water. It's much more involved than that, unfortunately.
--
Christopher Angel, aka JPublic
The Works of Christopher Angel
"Camaraderie, adventure, and steel on steel. The stuff of legend! Right, Boo?"

[Ebony]

A couple of years ago, there was some concern that buckytubes (or fullerene, take your pick of term) was a potential carcinogen. Has anyone heard any further information on this?Ebony the Black Dragon
Senior Editor, Living Room Games
http://www.lrgames.com
Ebony the Black Dragon
http://ebony14.livejournal.com

"Good night, and may the Good Lord take a Viking to you."