A thin layer of graphene paint could provide chemical-resistant coatings that keep packaged food fresh and protect metal structures from rusting.
Graphene is a one-atom-thick sheet of carbon that can be "randomly decorated" with oxygen to create graphene oxide. This process could have implications in the chemical, pharmaceutical and electronic industries, the University of Manchester reported.
"Graphene paint has a good chance to become a truly revolutionary product for industries that deal with any kind of protection either from air, weather elements or corrosive chemicals. Those include, for example, medical, electronics and nuclear industry or even shipbuilding, to name but the few," study leader Rahul Nair said.
When applied as a pain graphene oxide could be used as an ultra-strong, non-corrosive coating. The solution could be used to paint a number of surfaces such as metal, glass, and brick. These coating behave like graphite in both chemical and thermal stability but are as strong as graphene, which is the toughest material known to man.
Past research has demonstrated multilayer films from graphene oxide are vacuum tight under dry conditions, but act as "molecular sieves" allowing only the passage of small molecules when exposed to moisture. These findings could be useful in the field of water purification. The useful property is thanks to the structure of graphene oxide films that consist of small stacked flakes that leave nano-sized capillaries between them. Water molecules within these capillaries can drag small molecules and atoms along.
These capillaries can be tightly closed using through chemical treatments, making these graphene films even stronger and more impermeable to substances from gases to strong chemicals including corrosive acids.
"Graphene paint can be applied to practically any material, independently of whether it's plastic, metal or even sand. For example, plastic films coated with graphene could be of interest for medical packaging to improve shelf life because they are less permeable to air and water [vapor] than conventional coatings. In addition, thin layers of graphene paint are optically transparent," Yang Su, the first author of the study, reported.
