January 2011

Researchers from the City University of Hong Kong managed to generate a spin current in Graphene. This can lead us to using Graphene as a spintronics device.

The scientists used spin splitting in monolayer graphene generated by ferromagnetic proximity effect and adiabatic (a process that is slow compared to the speed of the electrons in the device) quantum pumping. They can control the degree of polarization of the spin current by varying the Fermi energy (the level in the distribution of electron energies in a solid at which a quantum state is equally likely to be occupied or empty), which they say is very important for meeting various application requirements.

According to Konstantin Sergeyevich Novoselov (the 2010 Nobel Physics Prize winner), Samsung managed to make a 40-inch diagonal (102 cm) Graphene sheet. Back in June 2010 it was reported that Samsung made a 30-inch sheet, and Konstantin says he has a sample of this sheet and he's using it for experiments.

Vorbeck Materials and Targray Technology is introducing Vor-Charge, a Graphene-based Composite Anode Material for Li-ion battery cells. The companies say that Vor-Charge can significantly increase batteries cycle life and enable faster recharge rates. Targray will be the the exclusive global distributor for Vor-Charge.

There are actually two different materials. The Vor-charge Anode-HC offers high current, short recharge, extended life, improved safety and good temperature range. The Vor-charge Anode-HE, on the other hand, offers high energy storage capacity, short recharge times and good cycle life.

IBM says that Graphene cannot really replace silicon in chips - this is because a graphene transistor can't be completely switched off (due to the fact that Graphene does not have an energy gap). But Graphene may still complement silicon - in a sort of hybrid circuits (like RF circuits).

Dr. Rodney S. Ruoff, a physical chemist from The University of Texas, has been awarded a $1 million grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation to lead a 3-year research on graphene. The research goal is to enable the large-scale creation and production of graphene and ultra thin graphite.

The team plans to work in several phases to address the larger challenges facing scalable graphene. For example, when graphene is cut it typically loses its conductivity. Ruoff and team will study ways to reverse this loss as well as construct a new graphene reactor that will help identify pathways for scale-up. The total cost of the research project is more than $1.5 million, with the Keck Foundation funding $1 million and the university supporting the remainder.

Aixtron announced today that they have received an order for a silicon carbide (SiC) chemical vapor deposition (CVD) system from a major corporate research & development center in the US (northeast US, to be exact).

The R&D center ordered a VP508GFR 1x4-inch wafer configuration Hot-Wall reactor system with additional features including a Dual Tube Hot-Wall reactor with the Aixtron patented Gas Foil Rotation® for individual wafer uniformity and high temperature capability. The deliver will be in 2Q 2011 (the order was placed in 3Q 2010).

Researchers from the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) together with an international team of scientists have published a research into how light can be used to control the electrical properties of graphene. This research opens the door to highly sensitive graphene based electronic devices.

The researchers have revealed that when graphene is coated with light sensitive polymers, its unique electrical properties can be precisely controlled and therefore exploited. The polymers also protect the graphene from contamination. Light modified graphene chips have already been used at NPL in ultra precision experiments to measure the quantum of the electrical resistance.

Vorbeck Materials announced that they have secured $2.785 million in a fully subscribed series 2b financing, which was completed December 30, 2010. Fairbridge Venture Partners and Stoneham Partners, L.P. led the round, along with individual investors. To date, the company has raised over $8.0 million in private investment.

Researchers from Cornell are studying Graphene grain boundaries. The researchers say that graphene doesn't grow in perfect sheets - it rather develops in pieces that resemble patchwork quilts. The meeting point of those patches is called grain boundaries, and the researchers are studying those boundaries.

The researchers grew Graphene on copper and then conceived a novel way to peel them off as free-standing, atom-thick films. They imaged the graphene (using diffraction imaging electron microscopy) and used a color to represent the angle that electrons bounced off at. Using different colors based on the electron bounce they created an easy way to image graphene grain boundaries. This method could also be applied to other 2D materials - and help explain the way that Graphene was stitched together at the boundaries.

Researchers from MIT developed a new way to use Graphene as an electrode for organic solar cells. The biggest problem with using Graphene in such a device was getting the material to adhere to the panel. Graphene repels water, so typical procedures for producing an electrode on the surface by depositing the material from a solution won’t work.

The team tried a variety of approaches to alter the surface properties of the cell or to use solutions other than water to deposit the carbon on the surface, and they found that doping the surface — that is, introducing a set of impurities into the surface — changed the way it behaved, and allowed the graphene to bond tightly. As a bonus, it turned out the doping also improved the material’s electrical conductivity.