Chương 39: Book 2 - Chapter 9 C

On Sunday, Mom allowed me to spend time in the lab again. I was able to make two more 9x13 sheets of graphene felt. Monday, I was back at the University. After the first week I tested out of three more classes. This gave me Fridays off, on top of my already free Tuesdays. Tuesday, when I met with the University lawyers and patent filing clerks, I also sat with the Dean of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Dr Michael Maytubby, who I had only briefly met in passing. I went over the materials.

I showed them a few of my largest flakes of graphene. Then described that they were baked together to create the graphene felt. When they asked about the name graphene, I showed them the abstract I had found from 1962 describing the discovery via electron microscope in 1961. I also explained the name. To help lead the discussion, Dr Maytubby asked why my flakes mattered.

"They used an electron microscope because the sample they were looking at was tiny, just a few thousand atoms. It was also on a metal substrate, not free. Graphene is made up of 38 trillion carbon atoms per square millimeter. This sample is the largest piece of graphene I've produced, it's six by five millimeters, and can easily be seen by the naked eye."

"And how is it produced?"

"It's the result of using a catalyst I invented that cracks carbon dioxide. It can also crack carbon monoxide, and this catalyst works at room temperature."

"Crack? What do you mean crack?" asked Dr Maytubby excitedly.

"It splits carbon dioxide into two parts. Oxygen and carbon separate. The carbon falls out, the oxygen remains," I explained.

"Could this be used to recycle air in a submarine or on the Space Shuttle?" he asked.

"Sure, with a little modification. You'd need a way to dispose of the carbon, but it would offer complete atmospheric oxygen recycling."

"This is fantastic. I want to see this in operation. What lab did you do this in?"

"My home lab. I'm still an undergraduate. I don't have school lab access. I have lectures and exams."

"I think we can change that," he assured me.

"When can I see your lab and a demonstration?"

"I spent the winter break locked in my lab working on this. My Mom only lets me in there on Sundays now," I admitted. There was a pause, then the whole room laughed.

"I forget how young you are talking to you. Ha! Your Mom banned you from your lab. I will get you space in one of our Chemistry labs. No one will ban you from that."

"Did you want to see the felt?" I asked him.

"Yes, let's examine that. It must be very strong, if it is made from these graphene flakes. Graphene is a six sided tessellated carbon?"

"Yes, and it is very strong," I said and handed him the sheet from target practice.

"This is a list of every bullet, gun and caliber fired. It resisted them all with minimal damage."

"That's incredibly strong, any guesses as to how it compares to Kevlar?"

"About one hundred times stronger. It also has minimal stretch, and is very hard to cut." He could feel the marks and see some bullet residue.

"Dr Thompson said it filters water?" I pulled out another felt sample, two bottles and a stack of plastic disposable cups.

"I'm going to do two demonstrations," I began.

"These are uses that my family thought up at the breakfast table. There are thousands of applications. I'm sure you'll probably think of a few potential uses yourself. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it"This is a bottle of orange juice, and I'm going to turn it into concentrate." I slipped the felt over the bottle mouth, secured it with a rubber band, and then poured it into the plastic cup. Only water came out.

"The orange sludge still in the bottle is orange juice with only minimal remaining water. Currently this process is done via heat under vacuum. It takes energy and time." I handed the bottle and cup to the professor. He took an experimental sniff then tasted the water.

"I don't taste orange juice. I imagine that a reverse osmosis system could do this with a great deal of wastewater produced."

"It would not preserve the orange juice concentrate, and this was done at normal pressure." I took several packets of salt and poured them into a cup. Then I took a bottle of water and poured it into the cup. A plastic spoon mixed the ingredients, and dissolved the salt.

"Fresh water from ocean water is very easy," I said taking my third filter cloth and creating a small pocket over an empty cup. I poured the salt water through the filter into the cup.

"Extracting salt from seawater is equally easy. The only energy cost for either operation is the water pump." The implications staggered the room. There was a babble of conversation. Finally, the professor took control.

"I see three patents here: one cracking carbon monoxide and dioxide, one making graphene flakes, one making your felt filter."

"The water filter effect only happens when the flakes are a specific size. Different graphene flake sizes produce felts that don't filter water. I'm sure there is an optimized flake size for strength, I just haven't found it yet. I also haven't experimented with felt thickness yet," I explained.

"So making carbon felt cloth and making carbon felt filters are two separate patents."

"I like calling it graphene felt better. And the patent for making graphene flakes should include the ability to adjust the flake size during manufacture. Actual size remains random, but by making an adjustment to the catalyst and the current used you can get pretty predictable and consistent flake sizes."

"So, catalyst patent, graphene flake production patent, flake size selection patent, graphene felt patent, and patent on a filtering version of graphene felt," began the professor.

"We need data," I told him.

"For filter life, strength and quality. We need data on flake size limits to determine which is the best size or combination of sizes for strength.

"If we're getting strength one hundred times better than Kevlar we need to document that and also document the strength of fully optimized carbon felt, as optimization could easily double or better that figure. We also need to document the strength of the flakes themselves," I added.

"That's right, we need to be thorough. So can you convince your mother to let me see your lab?" he asked.

"I'll ask," I said. Mom gave permission to have the Chemistry Professor come look at my lab, he came Thursday afternoon following me home after morning classes. After he signed a non-disclosure agreement, I took him upstairs.

"It's crude but ingenious," he complimented after I took him through the process.

"Using nitrogen from a tank to prevent combustion in the oven was a particularly brilliant design choice." Eventually he came to the hard questions.

"John, this is very good work. I don't even begin to understand how you were able to conceptualize your catalyst based on reading Chemistry books. Every researcher is going to want graphene to study. Now, what I need to know is how many of your classes could you test out of if I gave you the finals today?"

"My Mom calls this giving your truest answer. It's the answer that doesn't worry about consequences, make justifications, or excuses. Are you ready for that answer, because it will be true to the best of my current knowledge and ability."

"Yes, I think I need to know."

"I am sure that I could pass every final between myself and a Bachelor's Degree in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry. Both Chemistry and Organic Chemistry that is. I could do so today, with no need to prepare further. I might not make a perfect grade, but I would pass.

"I don't have enough information to make statements about a Master's Degree in those four subjects. I can guess I would do well, but I don't know," I said.

"Thank you for your honesty and forthright answer. I'm going to give you my truest answer in return. I'm asking because this looks like Master's Thesis work in Organic Chemistry to me."

"Thank you, sir. I've written some software and a friend of mine described it as PhD worthy. He's a Computer Science PhD himself. He seemed to think that any Computer Science program would look at all my work in that field and award me a Master's if not a PhD."

"That is interesting. Our school of engineering has been talking about expanding our Computer Science department. We offer several degrees but we only have a few graduates each year."

"Software Engineering, Computer Science, Information Systems and Hardware Engineering are related fields, much like Chemistry, Biochemistry and Organic Chemistry are related but different in application. I would think that the school would need a Dean of Computer Science to really expand."

"That's an interesting idea. It's something I'll have to think about," he said thoughtfully.