A testing protocol devised at U.S. Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) shortens the time needed to examine the efficacy of graphene as a rust inhibitor on metal surfaces.

In situ synchrotron X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was used to demonstrate that chemical vapor-deposited Using oxygen gas molecules with imparted kinetic energy (glowing red spheres), decades worth of information on gas permeation through graphene can be acquired in a minute. Source: LANLmonolayer graphene loses its gas-barrier performance almost completely when oxygen molecules are imparted with sub-electronvolt kinetic energy. Graphene was observed to retain its gas-barrier performance when the molecules were not energized.

“It’s about creating and using extra-corrosive air and observing its accelerated effect on the graphene-protected materials. Simply by imparting oxygen gas molecules with a slight kinetic energy, we could extract information about decades-worth of corrosion in a minute,” said lead researcher Hisato Yamaguchi.

The accelerated corrosion test confirmed that oxygen gas molecules permeate through graphene non-destructively under the influence of additional kinetic energy. This mechanism enables analysis of the graphene treatment effectiveness at blocking rust.