A sticky tape dispenser. This isn't usually considered a rare work of art worthy of being displayed in a museum. Yet a humble tape dispenser assumes a central role in "Wonder Materials: Graphene and Beyond", an exhibition opening this week at the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry.
In 2004 Professor Andre Geim and Professor Kostya Novoselov at Manchester University extracted single-atom-thick crystallites - graphene - from bulk graphite and transferred them into thin silicon dioxide on a silicon wafer using Scotch Tape.
This micromechanical Scotch tape exfoliating method came from Oleg Shklyarevskii, who, working in a lab on a scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) project, used it to polish the graphite rod of pencils (tape is often employed in STM labs to clean graphite before that material is measured as a reference).
Geim and Novoselov received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010 for their researches on graphene, and further awards for discovering a new class of materials – free-standing two-dimensional crystals – isolating graphene and elucidating its electronic properties.
Lightweight, thin and strong, graphene consists in a monolayer of sp2 bonded carbon atoms in honeycomb crystal lattice, and was originally thought to be a material that could replace silicone in digital logic circuits, electronics and applications in many other advanced technologies.
Yet its exceptional electrical, optical, mechanical, magnetic, physical, thermal and chemical properties soon opened up new opportunities.
Sponsored by Haydale, a South Wales based company processing and handling nanomaterials, working to commercialise graphene and other 2D materials, the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry and the National Graphene Institute, "Wonder Materials" invites visitors to discover the story of graphene.
A first section does so through a series of objects, such as early pencils, an Elizabethan cannonball and the above-mentioned sticky tape dispenser. But bon't think the exhibition is dedicated only to science fans: this scientific journey looks indeed also at other disciplines including art, history, photography, music and film.
Visitors will be able to focus on the latest discoveries and developments including spraying graphene oxide into hot solvent to form pom-pom-like particles suitable for electrodes (an idea devised by eight Korean researchers) and Dr Melina Blees' (Cornell University) tiny graphene springs and hinges based on the Japanese art called kirigami, that is sheets of graphene cut and folded into flexible structures, but they will also be surprised to hear the soothing and uplifting "Graphene Suite" by musician Sara Lowes.
Inspired by graphene's six-sided honeycomb structure, this suite in six movements was created last year by Lowes while she was composer in residence at the National Graphene Institute.
One of the arty highlights of "Wonder Materials", is the room dedicated to a display by experimental studio Random International (remember their "Rain Room", premiered at the Barbican in 2012?).
Created during their residency at the National Graphene Institute, this new project consists in a 12 metre long film projected over four screens with sound and visuals. Random's installation will be joined by work from Manchester-based artist Mary Griffiths, who created the huge patterned graphite wall adorning the National Graphene Institute.
At the exhibition visitors will also be invited to guess what the future of graphene will be, so they will be free to suggest new solutions when it comes to clothing with built-in computer power and other interesting applications.
"Wonder Materials: Graphene and Beyond" will be accompanied by a year-round programme for all ages, with hands-on science and creative workshops and evening science events like "Science in the City Late" (27 July) with more graphene-inspired music, this time courtesy of the acclaimed Anna Meredith (specially created with young female musicians on her residency with Brighter Sound), plus a bar, 3D-printed chocolates, and graphene-inspired jewellery making (for all those fashionistas who think that science is not for them…).
The exhibition will go on tour reaching the Science Museum, London, in 2018, but this is a great chance to embark on a nanoscale adventure, start looking into the possibilities offered by this material and maybe take it to the next stage in two years' time. There are indeed quite a few fields of research in which graphene may end up being employed, from energy and electronics to healthcare and design.
Last but not least, it is worth remembering that this material is the subject of Graphene Flagship, a European Union research initiative, so this event could be another way of thinking about the consequences of the Brexit on science and research projects.
"Wonder Materials: Graphene and Beyond", Manchester Museum of Science and Industry, 23rd July 2016 to 25th June 2017.
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