Up until recently, aerogel was known as the world’s least dense material. With a density of just 1 mg/cm³, aerogel is nearly all air but incredibly strong. Now, a group of researchers at two German universities have created an even less dense material called aerographite. The material, made of a network of hollow carbon tubes, boasts a density of less than 0.2 mg/cm³, making it nearly all air.
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| Aerographite |
Seen here in electron microscope images, aerographite is barely there at all. It looks like it would snap under any type of pressure, but it can be compressed by a factor of a thousand before popping right back, unharmed. It conducts electricity and can support more than 40,000 times its own weight. The applications for this crazy material include ultra-lightweight batteries and who knows what else – give a bunch of scientists a wonder material and they’re bound to do something pretty cool with it.
