Researchers at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) have discovered a way of producing graphene using soybean oil.

The team of scientists have developed a technique, known as GraphAir, that heats soybean oil in a tube furnace until the oil decomposes into carbon ‘building blocks.’

The carbon is then rapidly cooled on nickel foil, where it diffuses into a one nanometre thick rectangular film of graphene.

The team have also managed to transform other types of renewable oil, including waste oils used in cooking, into graphene by using GraphAir technology.

Previously the cost and time-intensive nature of creating graphene has limited its production to laboratories, however GraphAir is a sustainable, cheap and easy method of manufacturing graphene.

It is also a lot quicker than traditional methods, taking only 30 minutes rather than several hours.

Dr Zhao Jun Han, scientist at CSIRO and co-author of the project, said: “This ambient-air process for graphene fabrication is fast, simple, safe, potentially scalable, and integration friendly. Our unique technology is expected to reduce the cost of graphene production and improve the uptake in new applications.”

Dr Jun Han and his team, including co-author Dr Dong Han Seo, are now trying to find a way to increase production to a larger scale and are searching for commercial partners to make this a reality.

Graphene has 200 times the strength of steel, and is widely regarded by scientists as the world’s strongest material.

The carbon-based material has a number of high-performing electrical, mechanical, thermal and optical properties and has the potential to create more effective electronics and solar cells, and can be used to rid the air of fuel fumes as a pollution filter.

Research into graphene has advanced significantly in recent times. Last month a team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) created a new sponge-like and super-strong material by compressing and fusing flakes of graphene. In February 2017, a group of British scientists demonstrated how graphene could be applied in buildings as ‘smart wallpaper’ to generate electricity from waste light or heat.

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