Author Archives: Alan Lam

Could you imagine a world where your smartphone could charge to full in mere seconds? Or be able to take that same battery and charge it over thousands of times without it losing its battery life? And even better, take that same battery once it’s done and be able to throw it into your compost without worrying of needing to dispose harmful chemicals? The battery that sounds too good to be true could be already here, which may well be the next revolutionary solution to all your electrical needs.

These graphene supercapacitors combine the best of both worlds: a battery’s ability to hold high amount of energy, and capacitor’s ability to produce a high output, which in consquence means a fast charging time. Graphene supercapacitors work by using two metal plates seperated by an electric double-layer, approximately 1 molecule thick. Capacitance also increases as the surface area of the two plates increase, while the electric double layer thickness decrease. This makes graphene an optimal material to minimize this distance in the double layer.

There are two big challenges which we face with graphene supercapacitors. One is producing a high enough energy density. They often produce only 1/5th to 1/10th of the energy of an electrochemical battery, like most of today’s lead based batteries. Second, is to produce them in large quantities which are commerically ready.

A diagram of electrochemical cell. These are similar to how common batteries work. By creating an electrochemical potential between two chemicals, batteries utilize redox reactions to create electric energy to power machines.
Image taken from: http://www.mymcat.com/wiki/Electrochemical_Cells_Introduction

That’s when, like all great science, accidents can happen for the better.UCLA Professor Ric Kaner, and graduate student Maher El-Kady stumbled upon a way to make industrial grade graphene supercapacitors, with a common 21st century household machine: a DVD lightscribe burner.

With this new method of producing one atom-thick graphene supercapacitors (which are nicknamed ultra-capacitors for their superior properties), this new way of manufacturing allows them to produce a similar if not superior energy density to electrochemical batteries. Kaner and El-Kady were able to produce 100 micro-supercapacitors in less than 30 minutes.

What is brilliant about this discovery is how remarkably thin the power source actually is. With a thickness of less than 100 nanometers, the applications of this battery are virtually limitless, and allow flexible technology to become a near future reality.

With less than 100 nanometers in thickness, UCLA researchers produce one of the thinnest graphene supercapacitors yet, using Lightscribe DVD burners as a way to manufacture these micro-supercapacitors.
Photo taken from: http://www.greenprophet.com/2013/03/supercapacitor-graphene-maher-el-kady-breakthrough-ucl/

So before you buy the next best smartphone, remember that these supercapacitors are only just a short wait in the future, which might mean that your next phone could be something as futuristic and as flexible as the concept phone, Nokia 888.

For millenniums, humans have survived off of natural sources of food, whether it came from hunting and gathering, or grown agriculturally like wheat and corn. But with a never-ending shortage and demand for food due to population growth, new agricultural solutions from man-made fertilizers to genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have become essential to our survival. The question of whether organic-grown food is the healthiest choice nutritionally has been a tough, if not controversial battle.

But what is organic?

The defnition of an organically-certified product differs between the laws of each country. In 1999, the United Kingdom Parliament defined organic farming as products which largely excluded growth hormones and feed additives, synthetic fertilizers and pesticides for livestock and farm-grown crops respectively. By 2005, in addition to the above definition, the United States’ Electronic Code of Federal Regulations added and classified GMOs to be non-organic, since they are not produced naturally.

Is organic healthier?

A 2006 review article states that there is a lack of data to suggest that our recent new conventions in agriculture affect the nutritional value in any significant way, arguing that organic foods are preferred due to ethical reasons rather than concerns for health. It was also noted that the most worrisome factors of recent agricultural changes would have to be the use of antibiotics in livestock, which has been linked to increase the growth of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Another study showed no nutritional difference between livestock that were fed GMOs rather than organic feed. The study also noted that conventional farming of GMOs often include the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture, which have been proven to be safe as the compounds must undergo rigorous FDA-approval. If it is any consolation, we learned from the Chemistry 341 article at UBC that humans are exposed to 10,000 times more natural pesticides by weight than man-made ones.

Even with a lack of long-term studies on non-organic versus organic diets, these studies argue that there is no significant difference between the nutritrional value of two similar products. Nutrition is irrelevant to whether they were organically or non-organically produced.

Then why should I eat organic?

It was previously hinted that although organic food may not be healthier, it is often chosen over alternatives because of ethical reasons. New York Times food columnist, Mark Bittman, looks into not what, but how we are eating wrong in the following Ted talk:

And the debate of organics still rages on today, and new evidence being found for both sides. There are many good ethical reasons behind organic food production, but conventionally grown products are important too, because if we can genetically modify plants to increase agriculture production, why wouldn’t we do so to feed those who need it? Ultimately I can see an importance to both of them, and for me, the bottom line is that non-organically grown fruits and vegetables are still safe to eat and buy against popular belief, but I will think twice now before choosing cheaper meats than those that are organically certified.