Saint Jean Carbon, a carbon science company engaged in the exploration of natural graphite properties and related carbon products, has announced the development of hybrid graphene sheets with superconductivity. The work is the ongoing development of a number of different areas of research between Saint Jean and University of Western Ontario.
The hybrid graphene nanosheets were created by depositing yttrium barium copper oxide (YBCO) superconductor particles and were developed by using the matrix-assisted pulsed laser evaporation (MAPLE) method. With increasing irradiation time, the amount of YBCO nanoparticles deposited on graphene is increased. In addition, the microstructures and elemental composition of YBCO nanoparticle deposited on graphene sheet by the MAPLE process were studied in terms of particle size and shape as a function of the deposition time/irradiation time. It is noted that the shape and size of the YBCO nanoparticles are more uniform with increasing the deposition time. When it increases to 2 hours, the average diameter of the spherical YBCO nanoparticles deposited on graphene sheets is around 50 ± 10 nm. This study demonstrates that MAPLE is a suitable process for depositing inorganic superconductor nanoparticles on graphene sheets without additional chemical agents.
Researchers at the University of Western Ontario stated that "Conventional superconductors show zero electrical resistance at low temperature, which makes them very efficient for many applications including MRI, ultrasensitive magnetic field detectors, efficient energy conduction and frictionless transportation (levitating trains). Our work by developing hybrid graphene sheets is to explore a new regime in the physics of ultra-thin superconductivity."
Saint Jean Carbon recently produced two samples of single layer graphene (1) dispersion 20 mL, 0.1%, with pure 100 mL water and (2) a 50 mg of powder. The company also created graphene that has a magnetic field (Magnetoresistance).
Was it bologna?
Why are they working on YBCO? They claimed that they already had superconducting wires made from pyrolyic graphite. They claimed they super conduct at minus 19 degrees Fahrenheit!