August 2010

Nokomis has been awarded a Department of Energy (DOE) Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase I grant for Graphene as a Coating Material for High-Power RF Windows.

Nokomis will develop an innovative RF window coating structure based on Graphene. The new coating will enhance the quality of data collection and lower bottom line project costs. Beyond that, the applications for this technology includes a wide range of defense, space, energy, communications, medical, research, and security applications that will benefit from improved window performance and reliability.

Trinity College Dublin Jonathan Coleman been awarded a European Research Commission (ERC) Starter Grant of 1.5 million Euro. This will go towards his research of splitting graphite into graphene layers.

Two of the materials that Prof Coleman is currently researching are Bismuth Telluride and Molybdenum Disulfide. Bismuth Telluride is used to generate energy from waste heat, for example from car engines or nuclear plants etc. Professor Colemans method of separating graphene using a liquid process could be applied to bismuth telluride, which could then be coated onto thin film substrates and attached to the side of a moving car or a nuclear plant to capture the lost heat energy and convert it into usable electrical energy.

A team of scientists from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory were able to create magnetic fields (over 300 tesla) by straining graphene in a certain way. (so far, magnetic fields in excess of 85 tesla were practically impossible to come across in a laboratory setting).