superhydrophobic or superhydrophilic tagged posts

A custom chamber built by researchers at Rice University allowed them to refine their process for creating laser-induced graphene. Credit: Courtesy of the Tour Group

Rice University scientists who invented laser-induced graphene (LIG) for applications like supercapacitors have now figured out a way to make the spongy graphene either superhydrophobic or superhydrophilic. Until recently, the Rice lab of James Tour made LIG only in open air, using a laser to burn part of the way through a flexible polyimide sheet to get interconnected flakes of graphene. But putting the polymer in a closed environment with various gases changed the product’s properties. Forming LIG in argon or hydrogen makes it superhydrophobic, a property highly valued for separating water from oil or de-icing surfaces...