:00:00. > :00:33.In a moment it is Newswatch, but first on BBC News, Click.
:00:34. > :00:41.As amazing as our devices are today, as fast as they run, and as
:00:42. > :00:46.small as they get, they are all limited by physics. They are limited
:00:47. > :00:50.by the substances that they are made from.
:00:51. > :00:53.We dream of devices that are flexible, wearable, see-through and,
:00:54. > :01:04.But before we can invent them, we need a substance that can do all
:01:05. > :01:05.those things, be all of those things.
:01:06. > :01:09.Well, fortunately, such a substance exists.
:01:10. > :01:12.Theorised for decades but only finally created in a lab
:01:13. > :01:17.in 2010, by these guys, Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, it was
:01:18. > :01:23.such an amazing feat that it won them the Nobel Prize in Physics.
:01:24. > :01:26.Right, here is how you win a Nobel Prize.
:01:27. > :01:33.Take one pencil, and some sticky tape, and you see that?
:01:34. > :01:45.Now, on there, somewhere, are flecks of graphite from a pencil.
:01:46. > :01:55.These are known as graphene, and they will change the world.
:01:56. > :01:57.Graphene is a single atomic layer of carbon.
:01:58. > :02:00.They are just one atomic layer, and yet they have all kinds
:02:01. > :02:03.So if you have a flawless piece of graphene,
:02:04. > :02:10.electrons can move ballistically without being scattered around.
:02:11. > :02:13.And electrons move as if they have no masses, so it's relativistic.
:02:14. > :02:19.The mobility can be hundreds or thousands
:02:20. > :02:32.And also, because it's one atomic layer, it's transparent.
:02:33. > :02:35.So if you can imagine, you have a sheet with transparent electronics.
:02:36. > :02:37.Transparent electronics make all sorts of things possible.
:02:38. > :02:39.Suddenly anything can become a display, without blocking
:02:40. > :02:45.Solar cells can become a lot more efficient if you put the electron
:02:46. > :02:48.collecting circuitry right on top, without blocking the sunlight.
:02:49. > :02:52.And graphene is not only transparent and flexible,
:02:53. > :03:03.Atom for atom, 207 times stronger than steel.
:03:04. > :03:05.Meet professional cyclist Yanto Barker.
:03:06. > :03:08.Today, his bike is sporting a new set of
:03:09. > :03:18.And that means he can tackle terrain he would normally steer well clear
:03:19. > :03:20.of, like broken glass or, inexplicably,
:03:21. > :03:33.These tyres made by bike giants Victoria are made
:03:34. > :03:36.from special rubber, that contain specks of graphene, to improve their
:03:37. > :03:38.strength dramatically, and without the extra weight normally carried
:03:39. > :03:42.You have to imagine that a tyre is always full
:03:43. > :03:49.You want the grip, but you want the mileage as well.
:03:50. > :03:52.You want a low rolling resistance and weight, but you also want
:03:53. > :03:55.Because graphene is able to make a tyre lighter,
:03:56. > :03:58.less rolling resistance, at the same time more mileage
:03:59. > :04:05.and more grip, that was impossible with the existing compounds so far.
:04:06. > :04:08.The rims are made of carbon fibre that is also infused with graphene,
:04:09. > :04:11.which turns out as well to be very good at dissipating heat caused
:04:12. > :04:18.And it is this ability to bind graphene to other substances,
:04:19. > :04:21.improving those materials in the process,
:04:22. > :04:25.that has sparked a lot of interest from scientists around the world.
:04:26. > :04:33.And you can do all sorts of things with graphene.
:04:34. > :04:36.And what you do with it partly depends on what material you
:04:37. > :04:37.deposit on top of the graphene.
:04:38. > :04:41.And while graphene is only one atom thick, the materials you put on top
:04:42. > :04:52.So to do that, you need precision instruments
:04:53. > :04:54.in a super-duper clean room like this.
:04:55. > :04:56.At the UK's Graphene Institute in Manchester, researchers are
:04:57. > :04:58.exploring all sorts of applications for this wonderful material.
:04:59. > :05:01.It is being used as a waterproof coating to make
:05:02. > :05:05.This graphene mesh is already capable
:05:06. > :05:14.of sieving out many impurities, but the ultimate goal is to come up
:05:15. > :05:17.with a graphene membrane that can turn the seawater into drinking
:05:18. > :05:19.water, in about the same amount
:05:20. > :05:22.Right, so graphene is amazing, at everything.
:05:23. > :05:27.So why isn't it already in everything?
:05:28. > :05:30.Why is it so far only really being mixed in
:05:31. > :05:39.Well, because we can't yet make it in both big enough sizes and higher
:05:40. > :05:47.You can grow larger samples of graphene on copper sheet,
:05:48. > :05:49.but because of the really high temperatures
:05:50. > :05:55.involved, the graphene is deformed and not very good quality.
:05:56. > :05:58.If only there was a way of growing large graphene sheets on copper,
:05:59. > :06:08.Across the pond, at the California Institute of Technology,
:06:09. > :06:23.We found out, by an accident, that we had some leaky valves.
:06:24. > :06:26.I thought I had hydrogen plasma, it turns out that it was leaking
:06:27. > :06:28.in just a small amount of methane.
:06:29. > :06:30.This isn't a very good vacuum system.
:06:31. > :06:34.That led to a world changing discovery.
:06:35. > :06:39.Do not maintain your equipment, just let it go to pot.
:06:40. > :06:44.Hydrogen plasma is only supposed to clean the copper while making
:06:45. > :06:49.graphene at temperatures of 1,000 degrees Celsius.
:06:50. > :06:54.Let's try to have plasma-assisted growth, and so we lowered
:06:55. > :07:01.the growth temperature from 1,000 to 800, and then my group members found
:07:02. > :07:06.And then we say, OK, let's lower the temperature further, the
:07:07. > :07:19.And then, can we turn off the heater, and just grow the sample
:07:20. > :07:20.with plasma assistance at room temperatures?
:07:21. > :07:23.And we discover that this graphene has very few defects in it,
:07:24. > :07:26.which means it has very good electrical properties.
:07:27. > :07:29.Graphene is inching ever closer to a fulfilling its promise as this
:07:30. > :07:33.And in fact, even now, scientists are working
:07:34. > :07:36.on other substances, themselves just one atom thick, which also promised
:07:37. > :07:58.The world, it seems to me, is getting very two-dimensional.
:07:59. > :08:02.As we consume more content on the go, our choice of headphones
:08:03. > :08:10.So I have been testing some of the latest, more interesting options.
:08:11. > :08:18.These are the Earin earbuds, a pair of totally wireless headphones.
:08:19. > :08:21.Now, whilst they are in this container, not only are they being
:08:22. > :08:26.kept clean, but they are also being charged.
:08:27. > :08:29.As long as you've charged up the case, it can power them up three
:08:30. > :08:33.Now, once you have introduced them to your phone via Bluetooth,
:08:34. > :08:36.the left one will automatically sync up once it has been taken out of
:08:37. > :08:40.the case, and then the right earbud will connect to the left earbud, and
:08:41. > :08:44.I have no complaints about the sound quality or
:08:45. > :08:47.the connection, but I do feel slightly conscious that they could
:08:48. > :08:50.fall out of my ears, which makes me feel comfortable walking, but
:08:51. > :09:02.Taking the idea of wireless headphones to another
:09:03. > :09:06.level are these, the Dash, a pair of smart headphones that are definitely
:09:07. > :09:12.They can track activities, including swimming,
:09:13. > :09:15.as stream music from your phone, or play tracks stored on them.
:09:16. > :09:31.While the touches and swipes to operate are intuitive
:09:32. > :09:35.to use, at some points I found that even on top volume the music didn't
:09:36. > :09:41.But the time I really felt the benefit of these headphones was
:09:42. > :09:44.when I was walking and making phone calls on the go,
:09:45. > :09:46.because the person on the other end, even though the microphone was
:09:47. > :09:49.in here, couldn't tell that I wasn't holding my phone handset.
:09:50. > :09:52.They do offer the option of sound transparency being
:09:53. > :09:54.on or off, so you can hear your surroundings if you choose.
:09:55. > :09:57.And for those it is a priority for, so cyclists,
:09:58. > :10:00.or people who run on busy streets, the latest in phone conduction
:10:01. > :10:07.The sound travels through vibrations on your cheekbones, rather than
:10:08. > :10:12.I was actually really impressed by the sound quality,
:10:13. > :10:17.and I've never felt so safe pounding the streets of London.
:10:18. > :10:21.But after a little while, I did start to feel that the vibrations on
:10:22. > :10:27.I think that may be because I've made the volume so high.
:10:28. > :10:29.For something that looks a bit different,
:10:30. > :10:45.If you move your head a lot, you may actually want them to be
:10:46. > :10:52.The Tone Platinum can receive high-res audio, has dual noise
:10:53. > :10:56.cancelling microphones built in, and some added voice control
:10:57. > :11:03.But the design seems to be a matter of taste.
:11:04. > :11:08.I think these are more about sound quality than something
:11:09. > :11:12.you should run with, especially by the way they feel on my neck, so for
:11:13. > :11:14.that reason I'm going to take a seat...
:11:15. > :11:26.Don't forget you can still immerse yourself
:11:27. > :11:29.in Click's own virtual reality programme filmed entirely in 360 in
:11:30. > :11:33.Switzerland and the UK, and you'll find it on Click's YouTube channel.