A team of astronomers say they detected the first sighting of C70 Fullerene molecule in space, and possible Graphene molecules, too. They say that collisional shocks powered by the winds from old stars in planetary nebulae could be responsible for the formation of fullerenes and graphene.

According to the scientists, fullerenes and graphene are formed from the shock-induced (i.e., grain-grain collisions) destruction of hydrogenated amorphous carbon grains (HACs). Such collisions are expected in the stellar winds emanating from planetary nebulae. The existence of these molecules does not depend on the stellar temperature, but on the strength of the wind shocks.

Scientists from The University of Nottingham, UK, developed a new self-assembly based method to create sulphur-terminated graphene nanoribbon within a single-walled carbon nanotube. The team have demonstrated that carbon nanotubes can be used as nanoscale chemical reactors and chemical reactions involving carbon and sulphur atoms held within a nanotube lead to the formation of atomically thin strips of carbon, known as graphene nanoribbon, decorated with sulphur atoms around the edge.

These ribbons have some interesting physical properties and they are suitable for applications in electronic and spintronics devices - more so than 'regular' graphene.

Researchers (from University of California, Riverside) suggest a new simple method to count graphene sheets. Usually, when graphene is made by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) it results in multiple layers of sheets, and some defects and wrinkles. Current techniques to count the sheets (such as Raman and atomic force microscopy) are limited in size and need calibration.

The new method exploits the fact that graphene quenches fluorescence. The idea is to coat an area of graphene on a surface with a fluorescent polymer dye to allow visualization with a simple fluorescence microscope. The data processing is then quite straightforward.

Researchers from Rice University had a meeting in which they discussed the possibility of making graphene out of sugar. Chemist James Tour said you can actually make it from any carbon source - including a girl scout cookie. So they dared him to do it - and he did, inviting a troop of Houston Girl Scouts to see how it's done:

Tour says that a 2"x2" graphene costs about $250 today - and from one box of cookies you could make a 157,800m² graphene sheet - which will be worth over $15 billion ($15,290,697,674 to be exact...).

Researchers from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have created a graphene and tin composite material that can be used to make battery electrodes. Tin turns into nanopillars when heated at 300 degrees - and these nanopillars 'widen the gap' between graphene layers. This leads to better performing electrodes (faster charging).

This is still an early stage technology - current prototypes only last for about 30 charge cycles.

Mark Ming-Cheng Cheng, an assistant professor from Wayne State University received a five-year, $475,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to study the potential of graphene for neural implants that can be used to treat disorders and diseases such as blindness, deafness, epilepsy, spinal cord injury, and Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. He hopes to check out whether graphene can be used to make reliable, high-performance, long-term implantable electrode systems.

Currently electrodes are used to stimulate connections between brain parts, but these typically stop working after a few weeks because scar tissue forms around the electrode, and the materials that comprise the electrode can't carry enough charge through the scar tissue. Cheng suggested that graphene might be better suited to long-term treatment than platinum and iridium oxide, two of the most popular materials now used to make implantable electrodes.

Aixtron announced that Korea's Pusan National University (PNU) purchased an AIXTRON 4-inch Black Magic PECVD system. The system will be used for the production of graphene and carbon nanotubes - for research on renewable energy devices. The system was already installed at Pusan's National Core Research Center (NCRC).

Professor Kwang-Ho Kim explains that their reserach focuses on developing novel hybrid structures containing CNT and Graphene which utilize the unique physical and electronic properties of these materials. These structures are applied in electronic devices such as solar cells and sensors.

The following article was sent to us by Corey McCarren and Elena Polyakova from Graphene Laboratories, discussing carbon nanotubes commercialization woes, and how it relates to Graphene:

After the Nobel Prize was awarded for the research of graphene in October 2010, the material has occupied the headlines of all technology-related media. Graphene is already positioned as the next big thing for many technologies, such as computers, displays, biosensors, and flexible electronics, to name a few. It might be the right time to look back to 2001 when carbon nanotubes (closed rolls of graphene) were the darlings of the day, and headlines were full of promises of their bright future. Today, in 2011, most of these expectations were not realized.

Graphene Laboratories announced it moved to a new expanded R&D facility at the Stony Brook University Incubator in Calverton, NY. Dr. Elena Polyakova, Graphene Labs' CEO, told us that "this move greatly expanded our R&D and production capacity. Currently, there is strong demand for graphene wafers and coating on custom substrates. We are planning to add these products to our current offerings ASAP. Our large new facility and expanded wet chemistry laboratory is to be used to scale-up graphene wafer production. "

Researchers from Rice University created thin hybrid metal-graphene electrodes - that outperform ITO electrodes, are also more transparent and less resistance to electric current. These electrodes can be used to create non-glass touch displays, transparent and flexible OLEDs, solar cells and lighting products.

The new electrode is a thin film of single-layer graphene and a fine grid of metal nanowire. It's basically a hybrid-graphene electrode. The metal is used to enhance the conductivity at the required transparency. The metal grid strengthens the graphene, and the graphene fills all the empty spaces between the grid. The researchers found a grid of five-micron nanowires made of inexpensive, lightweight aluminum did not detract from the material's transparency.