Bluestone Global Tech (BGT) was founded in 2011 in New York with an aim to produce graphene. The company offers high-quality, fully customizable graphene on several substrates (Quartz, Copper, Silicon and others). BGT's CEO, Dr. Chung Ping Lai, was kind enough to answer a few questions we had about the company's business and technology.

Dr. Lai became BGT's CEO in November 2012. Previously he worked with Taiwan's ITRI institute, Veeco, Applied films and other companies. Dr. Lai received his Ph.D. degree from the Department of Ceramics Science and Engineering of Rutgers University in 1992. 

Researchers from Peking University discovered that graphene-silicon solar cells can be made more efficient by coating it with an anti-reflective layer (they used Titanium Dioxide).

The researchers say that normal silicon solar cells have an efficiency of about 15%. Adding graphene (as an electrode and also as the charge-carrying layer) can make the cells cheaper, but these are less efficient (at 8.6%). Coating the graphene-silicon structure with a 65-nm-thick layer of titanium dioxide decreases the reflected light from over 30% to less than 10%, which means that more light is converted to electricity - and the efficiency of these new cells is 14.6%.

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Researchers from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) documented silicon atoms "dancing" on a graphene sheet using scanning transmission electron microscope. The researchers trapped the silicon atoms (clusters of six atoms) on a graphene sheet using pores in the sheet.

The researchers say that this is the first time silicon atoms were directly seen that way. Using a simple electron beam is not useful because energy is inserted into the cluster. The ability to analyze small clusters is important as this can help understand how different atomic configurations control a material's properties. It could also be used to practical applications in areas such as electronic and optoelectronic devices, as well as catalysis.

The UK's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) awarded a £3.5 million ($5.3 million) to the University of Manchester, for graphene membranes research, with an aim to bring desalination plants, safer food packaging and enhanced disease detection closer to reality.

These highly selective graphene membranes are made from graphene platelets. The aim of the project is to produce working prototypes together with industrial partners. The university researchers already demonstrated that graphene oxide membranes are highly permeable to water, while being completely impermeable to gases and organic liquids when dry. Now they plan to combine graphene with a new type of polymers invented at Manchester (called Polymers of Intrinsic Microporosity, or PIMs) which hopefully enable membranes that are even better than pure graphene ones.

Bruker announced today that the National Graphene Institute (NGI) at the University of Manchester will use their Dimension FastScan Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) for research into the nanofabrication and nanoscale properties of graphene.

NGI researchers hope to get new insights into nanoscale variations of graphene conductivity and work function, and they will use Bruker's unique technologies to achieve that. Bruker's AFM will enable simultaneous quantitative mapping of mechanical properties, which will hopefully help the scientists optimize new graphene based materials and devices performance.

The Graphene Commercialization & Applications 2013 event (June 25-26 in London) aims to host a forum about establishing the real, commercially viable industrial applications of graphene, and expediting its role as a "game-changing technology". The event organizers now offer a £200 discount if you register by April 19.

The event will feature several prominent speakers from companies such as BAE, Nokia, Samsung, Plastic Log, Sony and from institutes such as UCLA, Fraunhofer IPA, UC Riverside, University of Manchester and others. The first day will focus on graphene commercially viable applications across multiple sectors and the commercialization roadmap, while the second day will focus on supply and cost projections as well as production scalability steps.