Researchers from Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, recently developed the lightest solid material in the world – graphene aerogel.

The world's lightest solid material sits atop a flower without damaging it.

Made from aerogel, the material is less dense than air and helium, weighing only 0.16 miligrams per cubic centimeter.

Aerogel is an ultra-light material derived from a gel in which the liquid component is replaced with a gas.

According to the team's leader, Professor Gao Chao, the most significant thing about the material is that it is easily manufactured and shows great capacity.

Like a sponge, the material can bounce back when compressed and is excellent at absorbing oil. Currently, oil absorbing products can absorb organic solvents around ten times of their weight, but the new material can absorb up to 900 times its own weight -- and absorbs organic solvent only.

The abovementioned characteristics make the new material desirable for treating oil spills at sea. You can spread it around the polluted area, collect it, compress it and thus retrieve the oil. Additionally, the material is recyclable.

A related paper was published in Nature journal last February.

The world's previous lightest material was created by HRL Laboratories, at the California Institute of Technology, and the University of California at Irvine in 2011. Made from a lattice of hollow metallic tubes, it weighs 0.9 milligram per cubic centimeter and can balance atop the petals of a flower without causing any damage.

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