I'm Arsheen, Materials Scientist and Engineer and student at Duke's Fuqua School of Business. This campaign was created to expose you to the incredible feat of Graphene, a one-atom thick layer of carbon, with remarkable properties in countless industries, including clean tech, aerospace, water desalination, structural materials, display screens and drug delivery, just to name a few. This revolutionary material is a million times thinner than paper, an excellent conductor of heat and electricity, 200 times stronger than structural steel, and yet flexible!
More About Graphene:
Graphene was discovered in 2004 and there has only been a decade of research, placing it at a relatively young stage for materials science. The current method of Graphene production involves a high-energy input to break apart sheets of carbon from the compact carbon source, and harsh chemicals - terrible for the environment. Furthermore, the production process has a low yield of 10-20% and large-scale production solutions have not been resolved due to the aforementioned economic and source material constraints. Companies such as Apple, Samsung, IBM, Xerox, Sony, Lockheed Martin and Saab are pouring millions of dollars into R&D and all competing to file patents for Graphene related technologies they have developed, such as flexible touch screens for tablets and phones. However, these products are not yet commercially viable, due, again, to the cost of production. As a result, currently most of the market for Graphene is not in the commercial sector.
Until now.
Confused? No worries, here’s the summary:
Graphene, at the end of the day, is nothing but one atom layer of carbon. An incredibly complicated and hard to produce layer, but just one beautiful layer of carbon nonetheless. And we have figured out how to make it without all the hoopla.
At GO Leaf, we have dedicated our lives to researching carbon as a human-friendly alternative to the modern, industrial world. Carbon is all around us, we’re just learning to harness it. We have discovered a way to economically and ecologically produce a material that has the ability to be a game-changer for SO many industries. The funding from this project will allow us to take to market our Graphene cell, which will transform solar energy as we know it today and continue innovating to develop more Graphene-based products a reality for consumers like you and I!
How did we get here?
Believe it or not, we stumbled upon it. Keep reading if you are really curious how this all happened!
It all started when my grandmother was diagnosed with cancer. Watching her body wrecked by chemo was really hard on my family. My father, a chemist by education, felt there HAD to be a better way of delivering drugs to the human body. And that’s how he started exploring carbon as a drug delivery mechanism.
Fast-forward several years, intellectual tangents, and painstakingly slow R&D cycles and, well, here we are.
Now, I say we, because, make no mistake about it, this is a family affair.
My dad, Abdul, is the person that tirelessly forged the partnerships with the scientists and academics that laid the foundation for all the work that we are doing. My sister, Afreen, biochemist and microbiologist, is the person that developed a way to encapsulate a drug in a carbon casing that can pass the blood brain barrier and release it upon arrival, making targeted drug delivery possible, meaning treat cancer without damaging healthy cells throughout the body.
While my older sister and dad were focused on using carbon to solve medical issues, I was interested in how carbon nanotechnology enabled products could be used to address other major social issues, namely, the need for clean water. My first company, CNanoz, does just that.
This new company, GO Leaf, is just the latest (AND GREATEST!) iteration on all the research and development our family has done with carbon, focused on tackling the need for clean energy.
And so, here we are. Thanks to Grandma.
Our family has dedicated our lives to researching carbon as a human-friendly alternative to the modern, industrial world. Carbon is all around us, we’re just learning to harness it.
What you can do:
Join us in the journey to make Graphene-based technologies a reality, starting with the Graphene cell. Whether you are on the fence about Graphene being all that it is talked up to be in Science and Technology journals worldwide, but believe clean energy is a cause worth working towards or if you are one that cannot wait to get your hands on some Graphene, support our campaign and we will keep you posted on all of our happenings! Your contributions to this campaign, beyond the perks you will receive, will go towards developing a refined Graphene cell prototype to showcase to the world, raise funds to continue our innovations and bring more Graphene-based products, such as those presented in the campaign video, to market. We truly appreciate your support and would love for you to share this campaign. Together, we can make this planet cleaner and greener, in a time when it desperately needs us!
GO Leaf's Graphene Cell Prototype:
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This is a small prototype of our Graphene cell. It is a stand alone cell, not connected to any battery or power source and it is able to successfully power the light bulb. Note also, that this image is indoors, thus demonstrating our Graphene cell does not need direct sunlight to generate power, unlike traditional silicon-based solar panels. Our Graphene cell generates power 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, without the need for a power source or sunlight. Because it does not need direct sunlight, it can generate power even in the night, and can be stacked on top of one another, resulting in tremendous savings in land costs that solar farms require.
