Lab creates conductive 3-d carbon blocks that can be shaped for applications

Rice University scientists have developed a simple way to produce conductive, three-dimensional objects made of graphene foam.

The squishy solids look and feel something like a child's toy but offer new possibilities for energy storage and flexible electronic sensor applications, according to Rice chemist James Tour.

The technique detailed in Advanced Materials is an extension of groundbreaking work by the Tour lab that produced the first laser-induced graphene (LIG) in 2014 by heating inexpensive polyimide plastic sheets with a laser.
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The laser burns halfway through the plastic and turns the top into interconnected flakes of 2-D carbon that remain attached to the bottom half. LIG can be made in macroscale patterns at room temperature.

The lab extended its technique to create LIG on wood and even food, but 3-D objects of pure graphene were less practical until now, Tour said.

"Now we have built a prototype machine that lets us make graphene foam into 3-D objects through automated successive layering and laser exposure," Tour said. "This truly brings graphene into the third dimension without furnaces or the need for metal catalysts, and our process is easily scaled."