Miracle material graphene protects firefighters
Graphene is a single carbon layer the thickness of an atom. This layer, which is only a few nanometers thick, can only be seen under a scanning tunneling microscope and contains the technology of tomorrow.
The material is multifunctional: super-thin and therefore transparent, extremely conductive to electricity and heat, more tensile than steel, yet flexible and abrasion-resistant and impermeable to gases.
A research group of the Hohenstein Institute wants to use the material in future for heat protection clothing. Surface modification with graphene can significantly improve the textile's properties in terms of flame resistance.
Graphene can act as a physical barrier that effectively prevents the penetration of heat and gases. At the same time, graphene can potentially prevent thermal decomposition of the textile. Another advantage of graphene is that it is approximately 200 times more resistant to fracture and abrasion than steel. These capabilities also make graphene highly interesting for applications in the field of protective equipment.
