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Origami is shaping the future

Origami, the ancient Japanese art of paper folding, is being used in pioneering Graphene research, the new “wonder material”.

Graphene is a sheet of carbon atoms linked together in one layer and is prized for its variety of “wonder properties” – it’s the strongest material ever studied and is a powerful electrical conductor.

Origami, the ancient Japanese art of paper-folding, has been used to bend graphene 1-atom thick into different shapes. In 2015, a team in China built a self-folding origami robot from multiple layers of graphene oxide sheets and the bot could walk and turn a corner. Potential uses for the origami/graphene  technique include new sensors, stretchable electrodes that could be used in robotics or nanomanipulators and tiny nano-bots that can move things around with nanometer precision.

This is a wonderful example of STEAM – the coming together of science and art – being used in cutting edge science and helping to shape the future of humankind.

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