GNPs - Page 11

XG Sciences aims to raise $24 million through an initial public offering to fund operations, as it continues to commercialize composite materials for lithium-ion batteries and other applications. Of the $24 million XGS hopes to raise through an IPO, $11.4 million will go to fund operations for the next two years, by which time the company might begin generating positive cash flow from operations. Proceeds from the IPO would also go to working capital, and to increase capacity and its sales and technical service staff.

While the company has accumulated operating losses exceeding $43 million during its development stage, the securities filing cites a growing customer list and order volume. XG Sciences projects 2016 revenues of $5 million to $10 million through the sale of graphene and graphene nanoplatelets for electronic and industrial products that use lithium-ion batteries. A number of companies are currently testing XG Sciences’ materials for applications including lithium-ion batteries, supercapacitors, thermal shielding, inks and coatings, printed electronics, construction products, composites and military uses.

IDTechEx Research recently released a report that projects that the graphene market will grow to $220 million in 2026, a 10% growth from their former report that predicted that the graphene market will reach nearly $200 million by 2026. This forecast is at the material level and does not count the value of graphene-enabled products.

According to IDTechEx, a continual decline in average sales prices will accompany the revenue growth, meaning that volume sales will reach nearly 3.8 k tonnes per year in 2026. Despite this, IDTechEx forecasts suggest that the industry will remain in a state of over-capacity until 2021 beyond which time new capacity will need to be installed. Furthermore, IDTechEx Research forecasts that nearly 90% of the market value will go to graphene platelets (vs. sheets) in 2026.

A new market report by Allied Market Research projects that the global sales of graphene would reach $151.4 million by 2021, and that the graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) segment will account for about two-thirds of the overall market revenue by that year. The energy storage application segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR of 93.2% during the analysis period.

AMR foresees that heavy investment to improve production capacity and focus on strengthening R&D activities would lead to the development of novel and innovative products. Monolayer and bilayer graphene would emerge as lucrative segments, registering a CAGR of 41.5% during 2014 and 2021. The growth of this segment is attributed to its potential applications in electronics, energy storage, 3D printing, and other industries.

Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and UC Santa Cruz have demonstrated what might be the world's first 3D-printed graphene composite aerogel supercapacitor, using a technique known as direct-ink writing. The researchers suggest that their ultra-lightweight graphene aerogel supercapacitors may open the door to novel designs of highly efficient energy storage systems for smartphones, wearables, implantable devices, electric cars and wireless sensors.

The key factor in developing these novel aerogels is creating an extrudable graphene oxide-based composite ink and modifying the 3D printing method to accommodate aerogel processing. The 3D-printed graphene composite aerogel (3D-GCA) electrodes are lightweight, highly conductive, and exhibit excellent electrochemical properties. Supercapacitors using these 3D-GCA electrodes with thicknesses on the order of millimeters display exceptional capacitive retention (ca. 90% from 0.5 to 10 A·g−1) and power densities (>4 kW·kg−1).

Researchers at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) announced the development of an iron-carbon composite catalyst that can contribute to a reduction in the costs of fuel cells and Li-air batteries. 

The carbon composite catalyst contains iron and nitrogen and uses a graphene nanoplate. It is reportedly better than existing carbon catalysts in terms of durability and performance, and allows mass production at a low cost. The researchers hope that it will be able to contribute to the commercialization of metal-air batteries.

Haydale recently announced that its proprietary HDPlas technology has been used to create functionalized Graphene Nanoplatelets (GNPs) that have been incorporated into a functional graphene ink, which has been developed for screen printing. The ink has been created with area printing applications in mind.

A recent report details how a screen-printable functional graphene based ink, supplied by Goodfellow, performs better than many normal carbon-based ink, opening the door to innovative applications that require enhanced electrical conductivity, excellent adhesion on a range of substrates and high print resolution. Such applications are found in sensors, displays, printed electronics and electrodes.

Applied Graphene Materials has entered into a joint development agreement with German lubricants and oils business Puralube Germany (which will be shortly changing its name to Puraglobe).

Haydale announced that its composites division Haydale Composite Solutions (HCS) has entered into a joint development and commercialisation agreement with Scott Bader Company, a global supplier of liquid resins, gel coats and adhesives.

Under the agreement, HCS will functionalize Graphene Nano Platelets utilising its proprietary HDPlas® process and add them to Scott Bader’s Crestapol resin to create a highly loaded masterbatch. This masterbatch will then be diluted down by Scott Bader and HCS into a range of concentrations from 1% to 8% and cast into resin plaques which will then be tested to quantify any improvements in mechanical, physical, electrical and thermal performance.

Group NanoXplore is a Montreal-based company specializing in the production and application of graphene and its derivative materials. The company's CEO and President, Dr. Soroush Nazarpour, was kind enough to answer a few questions we had regarding NanoXplore's technology and business.

Q: Hello Dr. Soroush. Can you update us on your current graphene material production and your new 3-ton GNP production facility?

Our Montreal production facility is running at full steam. Not only are we producing a full range of graphene materials, we are making more and more graphene-enhanced polymer products. In October we will be moving to a new facility, having outgrown our current space. The new facility will double our lab facilities and more than quadruple our production floor space.

We are seeing especially strong demand for graphene-enhanced plastics and rubber, with most customers focusing on improving mechanical and thermal characteristics. We have also seen a lot of emerging demand for coatings for textiles and other flexible substrates for thermal management, improved surface properties and protection.

Graphene 3D Lab has filed a non-provisional patent relating to the preparation and separation of atomic layers of graphene. This technology is said to represent a new, energy-efficient process to manufacture, sort and classify graphene nanoparticles, resulting in the potential for large-scale production of high-grade graphene.

The patent is relevant to graphene nanoplatelets - it covers a new, energy-efficient, non-chemically invasive process that significantly lowers the cost of preparing and separating high-quality, low atomic layers of GNP.