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from the you-don't-get-something-for-nothing dept.
A story today from Brown University (Rhode Island) reveals that the new 'wonder-material' graphene could be dangerous to humans and the environment Everybody's favorite nanomaterial may have a plethora of near-magical properties, but as it turns out, it could also be bad for the environment - and bad for you, too. It's easy to get carried away when you start talking about graphene. Comprised of single atom thick layers of carbon, graphene is incredibly light, incredibly strong, extremely flexible and highly conductive both of heat and electricity. Its properties hold the promise of outright technological revolution in so many fields that it has been called a wonder material.
Two recent studies give us a less than rosy angle. In the first, a team of biologists, engineers and material scientists at Brown University examined graphene's potential toxicity in human cells. They found that the jagged edges of graphene nanoparticles, super sharp and super strong, easily pierced through cell membranes in human lung, skin and immune cells, suggesting the potential to do serious damage in humans and other animals.
A second article indicates that graphene is shown to be very mobile in water and likely to cause negative environmental impacts if spilled.
From the article:
The use of graphene and other carbon-based nanomaterials, such as carbon nanotubes, are growing rapidly. At the same time, recent studies have suggested graphene oxide may be toxic to humans.
As production of these nanomaterials increase, it is important for regulators, such as the Environmental Protection Agency, to understand their potential environmental impacts, said Jacob D. Lanphere, a UC Riverside graduate student who co-authored a just-published paper about graphene oxide nanoparticles transport in ground and surface water environments.
"The situation today is similar to where we were with chemicals and pharmaceuticals 30 years ago," Lanphere said. "We just don't know much about what happens when these engineered nanomaterials get into the ground or water. So we have to be proactive so we have the data available to promote sustainable applications of this technology in the future."
(Score: 2) by Sir Garlon on Thursday May 01 2014, @12:00PM
The summary is pretty clear. Graphene is damaging to animal cells, so it's definitely dangerous if you inject it into your bloodstream or snort it like cocaine. As far as more reasonable exposure scenarios are concerned, like graphene getting into ground water, there has been exactly one study and it points toward bad news. How strong a conclusion do you expect people to make from one small-scale laboratory study?
[Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
(Score: 2) by hatta on Thursday May 01 2014, @02:56PM
Sounds like asbestos. Perfectly safe as long as no one touches it. But since you can never guarantee that no one will touch it, it's too dangerous to use. But asbestos has few unique properties, so it's not hard to find a replacement. Graphene might just be useful enough to justify the risks, minimizing those risks will be a great engineering and regulatory challenge.