Hamburg – It is black, super-resilient, water-repellent, it is a good conductor of electricity, but above all it is the lightest material ever invented in the world. The aerografite, born in 2012 in the research laboratories of the universities of Kiel and Hamburg starting from a graphene base, by its weight (0.2 milligrams per cubic centimeter) – up to six times lighter than air and 75 Times more than polystyrene – is now considered to be an extremely interesting material for the many application possibilities when lightweight and at the same time resistance is sought. However, much remains to be learned about this material. A step forward comes from a study published in the Nature Communications scientific journal. The study revealed the nanoparticles of tetrapods, the “bricks” that make up the airbrush, thanks to a mix of nanoscopic experiments, analytical modeling and numerical simulations. To conduct the numerical part of the study was Stefano Signetti, Ph.D. from the Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Trento headed by Nicola Pugno, coordinator of the project that was carried out in close collaboration with university researchers of Kiel, Hamburg (just those who invented this material) and of the University of Latvia. (9colonne)
