Doctoral student KeLiang Wang pours dried distillers grain solids, an ethanol byproduct, into a crucible to begin the process of transforming it into graphene.
Golden-colored dried distillers grain solids (DDGS) are heated in an oven flooded with nitrogen gas to produce biochar, which can then be converted to graphene, and ultimately used for energy storage in supercapacitors.
Biochar, left, is converted to graphene by mixing it with a chemical called a catalyst, drying it and then heating it in the oven at a specific temperature once again with nitrogen gas for one hour.