Researchers from Rice University developed a new strong fiber material made from large graphene oxide flakes. What is unique about this new material is that when you tie a knot with it, the know it just as strong as the fiber. Usually fibers are weaker at the knot, but this new material has "100% knot efficiency". This is the first time such a property in carbon or polymer fibers have been reported.

The graphene oxide flakes were produced at Rice using a patented process they developed a few years ago, by chemically extracting them from graphite. The flakes have an average diameter of 22 microns. They explain that because of graphene oxide very low bending modulus, it's as if there's no knot at all.

New research demonstrated that graphene can kill bacteria by slicing through their membranes and pulling out their phospholipids. Graphene may be used in the future as an antimicrobial material for everyday use, applied directly to wounds. A sort of graphene "band-aid". Graphene may also be used to create novel antibiotics.

The researcher explained that graphene cut through the membranes and extracted large amounts of phospholipids from cell membranes because of strong dispersion interactions between graphene and lipid molecules. Both the graphene and and phospholipids are pushed together by water, which creates hydrophobic interactions.

Michigen based XG Sciences uses Michigan State University developed technology to develop and produce Graphene Nanoplatelets, or xGnPs. Those short stacks of graphene sheets made through a proprietary manufacturing process can be used to replace carbon nanotubes - at a lower cost.

Michael Knox, the company's co-founder and CEO was kind enough to answer a few questions we had. During the previous 25 years, Mr. Knox has been involved in a number of different businesses as an owner or an officer. Mr. Knox has a BA in Economics and an MBA in Finance from the University of Minnesota.

Researchers from the University of Minnesota developed graphene-based quantum capacitance wireless vapor sensors. The sensor is made from a metal-oxide-graphene variable capacitor (varactor) coupled to an inductor, creating a resonant oscillator circuit. The resonant frequency is found to shift in proportion to water vapor concentration.

So basically in these sensors, a change in adsorbed water vapor concentration on the graphene surface translates into a shift in the resonant frequency of a resonant oscillator circuit. The sensors show fast response to abrupt changes in the humidity and further show a monotonic frequency shift with relative humidity that is reversible and stable, particularly after conditioning using repetitive humidity cycling.

Researcher from Japan's Advanced Science Research Center, the Atomic Energy Agency and the National Institute for Materials Science developed a way to detect the electronic spin state of graphene contacted to a magnetic metal, using a spin-polarized metastable helium beam.

Detecting the spin state of graphene is difficult because of the weak signal from the graphene compared to the strong signal of the magnetic substrate it sits on, and this new achievement is important if graphene is to be used as a Spintronics material.

Researchers from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden have demonstrated how graphene can dissipate heat in silicon based electronics. The researchers placed a graphene sheet on an electronic device hot-spots - which reduced the working temperature by 25%.

All electronic devices generate heat. The devices (processors, for example) include those hot-spots where the work is most intensive. These spots are small (on a micro or nano scale). In their experiment, the hotspots had a normal temperature of 55 to 115 degrees Celsius. The graphene layer reduced it by up to 13 degrees.

Markets and Markets released a new graphene market report ("Graphene Electronics Market: 2013-2023") in which they forecast that the total graphene technology market will grow at an estimated 55.54% CAGR (Compound annual growth rate).

The total graphene market will reach $100 million in 2018 - and it will be used in a range of applications including RFID, smart packaging, supercapacitors, composites, ITO replacement, sensors, logic, memory and others. Overall the market will remain rather small according to this report. While graphene may revolutionaize a lot of industries and enable new products, the forecast is not promising for graphene producers and suppliers.

Graphene Nanoribbons have two kinds of edges: zigzag or "armchair". Edge magnetism in zigzag graphene nanoribbons (zGNRs) has been predicted in theory but not in experiments, probably due to the instability of the edges and the usual choice of hydrogen as a terminal to the edges (which can only be stabilized at extremely low hydrogen concentrations). A better terminal is required if we want to preserve the magnetism (which is required for Spintronics application, for example).

Now researchers from Puerto Rico and China have designed new terminals based on ethylene (C₂H₄). They say it's the ideal material to preserve the edge magnetism. This will hopefully indeed enable Spintronics applications based on zGNRs.

The Universidad Presbiteriana Mackenzie, in Sao Paulo, Brazil decided to open a new center for graphene, nanomaterials and nanotechnology center. The MackGrafe will be Brazil's first graphene research lab, and it will open in the first half of 2014.

The total investment in the new graphene centre is about $15 million. It is being funded by the Sao Paulo State Research Support Foundation, or Fapesp. The focus of the research at MackGrafe will be on new methods to produce graphene.