'Inter-school' project won First Prize in the 2021 Science and Technology Competition

The project "Research on manufacturing conductive ink based on graphene (graphene) from Vietnamese graphite for smart applications" is a special project at this year's competition because the authors of the project come from 2 different schools, including Tran Bui Huy Hoang -Ha Huy Tap High Schooland Phung Dinh An Khang -Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted.

Phung Dinh An Khang is currently a student in class 11A4 and the project is in the field of Chemistry - a specialized block that he is studying. This is also a project that he has cherished for a long time with the hope that from graphene material - a material that is quite easy to find in Vietnam, he can create a type of ink that can conduct heat easily in many different types of materials.

To effectively implement the project, Huy Hoang collaborated with An Khang - a friend from another school but both have played together since childhood and have a passion for science.

The instructor for the students is Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoai An - Chemistry teacher - Ha Huy Tap High School. This is also a female teacher who has spent many years accompanying students in many research projects, including a project that won First Prize at the provincial level and Fourth Prize at the national level in 2018.

Although studying at two different schools, the two close friends have collaborated to implement a scientific research project. Photo: My Ha

Previously, graphene material was first introduced for its electronic properties in 2004 (discovered by Andre Geim and Kostya Novoselov, Nobel Prize winners in Physics in 2010). After that, in just over 10 years, this material has made great progress in graphene research due to its unique physical and chemical properties as well as its good mechanical properties and its ability to conduct electricity and heat superconductivity. Graphene is considered to be the thinnest, most flexible and most durable material among known materials, and is also a very good conductor of heat and electricity.

In Vietnam, these studies have only stopped at the scope of basic research, in-depth theoretical research and some application-oriented research with quite high manufacturing costs, especially facing certain difficulties when deployed on an industrial scale.

The project is highly appreciated for its novelty and applicability. Photo: My Ha

With many unique characteristics, the implementation of this research project by Hoang, Khang and their supervisor encountered many difficulties, especially when the implementation time of many activities was greatly affected by the Covid-19 epidemic. To carry out this project, the group of authors also spent nearly a year preparing, in which more than half of the time focused on research, experimentation and waiting for measurement results from the Military Technical Institute and the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology.

Graphene is also a very new material, the related documents are mainly from abroad, so even though Tran Bui Huy Hoang has an advantage in English, he still had to take a short online English course in Chemistry to be able to look up foreign documents.

To prepare for this long-term project, Phung Dinh An Khang had a year of testing with the Science and Technology Innovation Contest for high school students from grade 10 with the project "Research on the production of essential oils and plant protection products from the Ba Chac tree for application in life and production".

Although this project was only awarded second prize in the previous school year, the experience in implementing the topic and building the plan helped An Khang to be more favorable in implementing this second project.

The material can be applied in many fields of electronics. Photo: MH

Sharing about the implementation process, An Khang added: During the research process, we discovered many great applications of Graphene Material. However, to successfully manufacture the product, we need a lot of experiments and testing on many materials with many different ratios. There are measurements that we have to send samples to the hospital many times to get the final results.

To visualize this product, An Khang and Huy Hoang also did a simple experiment. Accordingly, with a pen containing conductive ink based on graphene and just a line drawn on a cardboard sheet and some other simple equipment, this material can generate electricity and help light up a Christmas tree with many decorative light bulbs. Although the entire process of implementing the experiment is quite simple, this is a tireless and persistent effort of the group of authors and the success achieved can open up many new research directions on this type of material.

Currently, the use of this material for application in Vietnam is not much. Meanwhile, the source of this material in Vietnam is quite abundant and if successful, it can open up many new directions of development and can be applied to smart products in the field of electricity and electronics.

Presentations of candidates at the 2021 Provincial Science and Technology Competition. Photo: PV.

With creativity, novelty and high applicability, the project "Research on manufacturing conductive ink based on graphene (graphene) from Vietnamese graphite for smart applications" was also awarded by the Jury.Science and Technology Competitionfor high school students in 2021 was highly appreciated and awarded First Prize. Notably, this project was one of three projects selected by the Jury to participate in the National Science and Technology Competition.

Accompanying the students during the implementation process, teacher Nguyen Thi Hoai An shared: I am very excited to approach the students' ideas in this project. Graphene is a new material, highly applicable and quite environmentally friendly. Accompanying the children in the project, I believe that they have approached scientific research methods, learned how to plan to implement the project as well as practiced problem-solving skills and at the same time instilled in them a passion for research and interest in science...