December 2011

Researchers developed a new blue light emitting hybrid graphene oxide nanosheets. The team used surface functionalization to turn the cyan (491 nm) emitting sheets into 400 nm blue. The team fabricated the new material through the graphene oxide surface functionalization with aryl diazonium salts of 2-aminoanthracene.

The researchers say that these surface-functionalized graphene oxide hybrids has unique optical properties - and they may play an exciting role in opto-electronic devices.

In the holidays and end-of-the-year spirit, here are the top 10 stories posted on Graphene-Info in 2011, ranked by popularity (i.e. how many people read the story):

1. Researchers develop a graphene-based high-performance bendable battery (Feb 27)
2. Graphene can be made to repel water very effectively (Feb 2)
3. Silicene - a new atom-thin honeycomb material made from Silicon atoms (Mar 25)
4. Graphene-based speaker developed in Korea (Jul 8)
5. Graphene paper - a new strong and flexible material (Apr 23)
6. Graphene and ITO can be combined to make cheaper and more durable fuel cells (Feb 12)
7. Graphene used to make Li-Ion batteries with 10 times the capacity, charge speed (Nov 15)
8. A short film introducing Graphene (Nov 27)
9. Graphene based quantum dots may lead to cheap & efficient solar cells and OLEDs(Jul 6)
10. SMCs - new revolutionary graphene based energy devices (Aug 20)

Here's for an awesome 2012. May you all enjoy the holidays!

The Electronic Materials Research Institute (eMRI) at Northeastern University will develop a graphene-based technology for use in low-cost infrared imaging applications for the US military. eMRI signed the research agreement with the United States Army Research Laboratory at Adelphi, Md. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is also collaborating in this project.

According to researchers from eMRI, graphene can potentially revolutionize infrared cameras or night vision goggles used in a variety of military and civilian applications - enabling cheaper cameras which are low on size, weight and power. The research will focus on designing graphene-based bolometers, which measure heat generated by objects or people. The long-term goal is to license and mass-produce the technology for low-cost infrared cameras.

Vorbeck Materials completed its series 3 financing - with a total value of $10 million. The round included 17 investors and was led by Black Powder and Fairbridge Venture Partners. Vorbeck also says that the Siren anti-theft packaging device, which uses their graphene-based Vor-Ink circuitry are now on the shelves of major retailers.

Siren smart packaging

Last month Vorbeck said that the Siren will start shipping in Q1 2012, so this is earlier than schedule.

Researchers from China's Zhejiang University in Hangzhou demonstrated meter long graphene fibers - made from nano-sized flakes of graphene oxide. These fibers are strong and flexible and can be tied in knots or woven into conductive "mats".

The researchers use web spinning to turn a graphene oxide solution into long (tens of meters!) fibers. They then treated those fibers with chemical reduction to turn them back in strings of graphene. The next stage for their research is to improve the fiber's strength - which currently cannot compete with carbon fibers.

IBM has managed to produce RF integrated circuits on an 8" graphene wafer. IBM says that this demonstration is a "major step in transitioning this promising material from a scientific curiosity into a real technology". The graphene was grown on copper foil from high-temperature vapor and later coated with the polymer PMMA.

These are RF devices - as it's still difficult to create logic using graphene (it has no natural bandgap), although some researchers are working towards methods to fix this issue.

Researchers from the Juelich Research Center and the Technische Universitaet Muenchen developed a graphene-based transistor array that can record electrical signals generated by biological cells.

The team demonstrated an array of 16 graphene solution-gated field-effect transistors (G-SGFETs) - produced over a copper foil using standard photolithographic and etching and chemical vapor deposition processes. A biological cell layer analogous to the heart muscle was deposited directly over this array. The transistor array detected and recorded single cells' action potentials at high resolution.

Grafoid signed an agreement with Rutgets University to co-develop graphene-based polymer and non-polymer applications. Grafoid will provide manpower, graphene expertise and graphene materials (from the Lac Knife graphite resource of Focus Metals), while Rutgers University will provide the inter-disciplinary and research lab facilities.

Grafoid and Rutgets will focus at first on applications ii the automotive, aviation and infrastructural markets.