2012年五大科技突破

    稀土的替代品？

    2010年，曼彻斯特大学（University of Manchester）的两名研究人员因为在石墨烯材料领域的工作而荣获诺贝尔物理学奖。石墨烯是一种蜂巢状的单层碳原子材料，厚度只相当于一个原子。超极轻薄的特性使这种材料具有光明的实用前景——最终，科学家希望使用石墨烯制造晶体管，也就是说，用它造出只有一张纸那么薄的电脑。

    沃顿商学院麦克科技创新中心（Wharton’s Mack Center）常务董事迈克尔•汤姆奇科指出，尽管生产出这种设备的那一天还很遥远，但石墨烯很快就可以应用到其它用途上。石墨烯的特性与目前生产平板电脑、太阳能电池、智能手机等电子产品所需用到的稀土很像。虽然稀土类金属的总量并不算稀少，但是现在获得稀土正变得越来越困难。汤姆奇科说：“稀土将变得极为稀缺和昂贵，到2030年，我们甚至可能再也无法获得稀土。”他补充道：“石墨烯并不是高级材料领域唯一的‘下一件大事’，但目前随着稀土类稀有金属的日益稀缺，我们必须尽快找到它的替代物，而石墨稀为我们提供了一种解决方案。”

    Replacement rare earths?

    In 2010, two University of Manchester researchers won a Nobel Prize in physics for their work on a material called graphene. Graphene is a honeycomb-shaped sheet of carbon atoms arranged one-atom thick. That ultra-thinness gives the material useful properties -- ultimately, scientists want to use graphene to build transistors, or, say, a paper-thin computer.

    While those devices are a ways off, other graphene applications are coming shortly, says Michael Tomczyk, managing director at Wharton's Mack Center for Technological Innovation. Graphene has properties similar to rare earth metals currently used in electronic devices such as tablets, solar cells, and smartphones. While these metals are not rare in terms of gross volume, they are becoming increasingly tougher to access. Rare earths, says Tomcyzk, "will become prohibitively scarce and expensive or possibly unavailable by 2030." He adds, "Graphene is not only 'the next big thing' in advanced materials. It is a solution to the pending extinction of a whole category of rare materials that we will need to replace, and soon."