February 2012

The Quantum Nanoelectronics Group from the Catalan Institute of Nanotechnology (ICN) ordered Graphene research tools from Oxford Instruments - which will provide a Triton Cryogen-free dilution refrigerator integrated with a 8 Tesla superconducting magnet. These tools will be used to study the Quantum Hall Effect in these nanostructures.

Oxford Instruments will deliver the equipment next month, and will also maintain and service it for 5 years.

Graphyne is an atom-thick carbon sheet that resemble graphene - but the atomic bonds are different. New computer simulations suggest that graphyne sheets have graphene like electric structures. Because graphyne has unique symmetry, they may have even outperform graphene in some scenarios.

There are many types of Graphynes - as their 2D framework contains triple bonds and not just double bonds as in Graphene. Not many graphyne types have been fabricated till now, but computer simulations of different types is on going.

Korean researchers developed a new way to pattern graphene - using a motorized movable roller. The researchers made a transistor from a graphene that was patterned with a polymer solution in this method. This may lead to a low-cost graphene patterning technology on a large scale.

The researchers say that their self-assembly-mediated process can be used to fabricate graphene micro-patterns on flexible substrates. In their specific research, highly ordered patterns of PMMA polymer solution (also known as Plexiglas when in solid form) were produced onto a single-layer graphene film prepared on a flexible substrate. The PMMA is useful as a protector while etching the graphene by a plasma treatment, and was later washed off.

Researchers discovered that Graphene could provide the world's thinnest metal coating to protect against corrosion. They tested two types of graphene coating: one that is directly made on copper or nickel, and the second was transferred onto another metal. They both provided protection against corrosion. The graphene provides the same corrosion protection as conventional organic coating that is more than five times thicker.

In the first experiment it was discovered that if you use CVD to grow a single layer of graphene on copper it slowed the corrosion - in fact the coated copper corroded seven times slower than bare copper. In a second experiment, Nickel was coated with multiple layers of graphene and it corroded 20 times slower than bare nickel.

Aixtron announced that the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Pisa, Italy, has ordered two BM Pro systems in a 4-inch wafer configuration. IIT Pisa researchers will use these systems for the development and production of graphene for the implementation of novel hydrogen storage systems. BM Pro is the new product name for Aixtron's Black Magic system.

TIT Pisa will use one system to deposit graphene using both chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). The second BM Pro system is configured for high temperature (1800°C) processing with graphene to be formed using sublimation. Both systems have already been installed and commissioned.

Researchers from Northwestern University have developed a new method to oxidize graphene without the collateral damage encountered in the Hummers method commonly used. This process is reversible - which means it offers high tunability, and it outputs a chemically homogeneous graphene oxide.

The idea is to leak Oxygen into an ultra-high vacuum chamber where a hot tungsten filament is heated to 1500 degrees Celsius. This causes the oxygen molecules to dissociate into atomic oxygen which is them uniformly inserted into the graphene lattice.

Researchers from the University of Edinburgh have been studying health effects of Graphene, and they say that graphene nanoplatelets could post health risks as they can accumulate in the lungs and cause damage.

They say that the nanoplatelets behave like tiny frisbees and stay airborne, and when inhaled they can dig deep into lungs (more so than other graphene forms, anyway). This means that people that work or produce graphene at at risk.

UK's Durham Graphene Science (DGS) raised £1.2 million in its seed round of financing. The lead investors are IP Group and the North East Technology Fund. DGS (a spin-off from Durham University) is developing mass production technology for graphene. IPG and NETF will invest £500,000 each, and will have a 22% stake in DGS each (valuation is £2.27 million).

DGS developed a unique process for synthesizing the material that creates graphene from carbon using sustainable and readily available cheap feed stocks in a bottom up chemical vapor deposition process. DGS will use the seed investment to scale up its production equipment and establish joint development agreements with partners to test the handling, dispersion and processing of the material across a wide variety of applications.

Researchers from the University of Wollongong (UOW) have developed a new composite material that produces the toughest fibers ever made - tougher the Kevlar and spider silk. The new material should be cheaper and easy to make.

The researchers have demonstrated that graphene can work just as carbon nanotubes (a common toughening agent) in polymer composites. The idea is that equal amounts of carbon nanotubes and graphene added to the polymer gives exceptionally high toughness. Other combinations of these materials resulted in fibers that aren't tough at all. The new fibres can be produced easily by a wet-spinning method and can be readily up-scaled.

Remember the UK government's plan to invest £50 million in graphene? We got some new details today about that plan. It turns out that the UK plans to build a graphene hub that will lead graphene research into a commercial success. The £50 million will be used in four initiatives, detailed below.

The National Graphene Center plan

£38 million will go into building a national graphene institute, to be built by the University of Manchester (which will provide an extra £7 million). This will be a world-class shared facility for graphene research and commercialization activities. The institute will be used by both researchers and business.