October 2013

Aixtron reported today that the company is involved with several European graphene research projects. In fact, Aixtron says they are a key-partner in several EU projects. First of all, Aixtron is leading Production Work Package in the Graphene Flagship, EU's $1 billion graphene drive.

In the GRAFOL project, Aixtron applies their scaling know-how to develop large scale equipment for wafer-based graphene and continuous production of foil-based graphene for transistors and transparent conductive films. In another project called MEM4WIN Aixtron employs their batch-based deposition technology to improve the throughput of graphene production for smart windows.

Researchers from Korea's Incheon National University developed a new way to make conductive, flexible, and durable textiles (fabrics) wrapped with reduced graphene oxide (RGO). They report that those materials are useful to make conductive wires or functional fabrics in wearable electronics and more.

The main breakthrough is the choice of bovine serum albumin (BSA) - an amphiphilic protein that can be attached to organic and inorganic materials through hydrophobic and hydrophilic interactions - basically this is molecular "glue" that helps with graphene-oxide adsorption into any textile. The researchers fabricated those electrostatic self-assembly of BSA molecules onto all sorts of textiles (nylon yarns, cotton yarns, etc.) and then used a low-temperature chemical reduction.

Researchers from Korea's Ulsan institute developed a high performance Oxygen Reduction Reaction (ORR) electrocatalyst using chemical functionalized (doped) graphene oxide. ORR electrocatalysts, which split hydrogen gas to make electricity are critical components in fuel cells and some batteries.

The researchers used covalent functionalization of various small organic molecules with a subsequent thermal treatment, which resulted in thin films. The researchers say they achieved a simple approach to introduce nitrogen atoms on graphene oxide sheets, without a toxic gas precursor and with a good doping degree control.

Researchers from the University of Minnesota in collaboration with Adama Materials managed to create a highly durable graphene-plastic compound. They say that by adding a tiny amount of graphene, the plastic toughness was increased by about 2.5 times.

This research started two years ago and the researchers are now seeking to refine to process so it can commercialized. The process they develops starts by adding chemical groups on the graphene surface so it bonds better to the epoxy they are using. Then they disperse the graphene in a liquid and pours it into molds and it hardens into the plastic.

Researchers from Korea's Hanyang University developed new graphene membrane based technology to separate carbon dioxide (CO₂) from nitrogen and hydrogen. This could lead to low-cost greenhouse-gas control systems, and the researchers hope it can be commercialized within two or three years.

The researchers used graphene and graphene oxide based membranes. To create the membranes, the researchers created pores in graphene sheets and then stacked them in such a way that ensured that only CO₂ molecules could go through.

Researchers from India's VIT University combined studied a new hybrid material made from PVC and graphene-oxide (GO). They say that the GO enhances the properties of PVC and makes it useful as battery electrode material, and also for membranes and coating applications.

The researchers combined polyvinyl chloride (PVC) with graphene oxide using the colloidal blending method. The new composites were studied using several methods (including AFM, SEM, TEM and more) and it was found that the GO have been dispersed homogeneously throughout the PVC matrix, and the original research paper includes many measurements and analysis data.

Researchers from the University of Perugia in Italy, in collaboration with Turkey's Grafen, discovered a simple method to fabricate graphene-based printed electronics, using an ordinary cellulose paper and pen. This process, if they manage to commercialize and automate it, could enable cheap flexible biodegradable electronics.

The researchers started with graphene nano-platelets (made by Grafen). These were drop-casted these onto ordinary glossy photopaper as a transfer substrate. The breakthrough process is that the paper was sandwiched between two rough paper sheets and then, using a simple ballpoint pen, the researchers drew patterns onto the backside of the graphene-coated glossy paper. The patterns were thus transferred onto the rough paper.

In April 2013 American Graphite Technologies (AGT) it is planning to collaborate with Ukraine's Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology ("KIPT") on graphene-based working materials for 3D printing. Now AGT announced that it has finalized the IP agreement and funded the first year of research.

The KIPT science team will consist of 10 scientists (5 PhD's, 4 former weapons scientists and 1 PhD student). AGT paid $50,000 for the project, which will run for one year with an option to renew. AGT will own all the IP developed from this Graphene 3D Printing project.

Researches from Vanderbilt University developed a new graphene-coated silicon based supercapacitor. This is an attractive design not just because of its excellent properties, but because it can be integrated into silicon chips.

Silicon isn't normally used for supercapacitors due to the extreme reactivity of silicon with electrolytes. But doped Silicon has very attractive features such as a low mass density, excellent conductivity, a controllably etched nanoporous structure. In addition silicon is abundant and used in many processes which makes it easier to integrate.

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute in Hamburg demonstrated that graphene can be used to emit terahertz laser pulses with long wavelengths. This has been theorized before, but now the researchers actually proved that it can be done. A terahertz direct emission is useful in science but this is the first time that such a laser was developed.

The researcher explain that while graphene band-gap is usually referred to as a zero bandgap, it does have an infinitesimally small bandgap. But the electrons still behave like those of a classic semiconductor, and the population inversion in graphene only lasts for around 100 femtoseconds, less than a trillionth of a second. This means you cannot use graphene for continuous lasers, but it can be used for ultrashort laser pulses.