Researchers from Rice University in collaboration with Lockheed Martin developed a new graphene based compound that can be used as a deicing (ice protection) coating for marine and airborne radars.

Currently most radar domes use ceramic alumina for deicing, but it takes a lot of power to heat them if they are coated with ice because they are poor conductors. The new compound is based on graphene nano-ribbons (GNRs) and polyurethane car paint. The car paint helps the graphene stay on the radar dome.

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Researcher developed a new method to produce very long and well-defined graphene nanoribbons (GNRs). The resulting defect-free ribbons are liquid-phase-processable and could enable effective transistors and other electronic devices.

The new method is a bottom-up one - synthesizing graphene ribbons from molecular building blocks. This method is a modification to the solution-mediated production method developed in 2011 by the same group.

Researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) developed a one-step method to grow and transfer high-quality graphene to silicon or other stiff substrates.

The new method, called "face-to-face transfer" was derived by beetles and tree frogs and how they keep their feet attached to fully submerged leaves. The idea is to grow graphene on copper-coated silicon. The copper is etched away while the graphene is held in place by bubbles that form capillary bridges. This keeps the graphene on the silicon and prevents it from peeling off during the etching process. When the etching is complete the graphene is attached to the silicon.

Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology are developing graphene-based micro antennas that can be used to connect low-power small devices. Graphene can be used to generate a type of electronic surface wave that would allow antennas just one micron long and 10 to 11 nanometers wide.

The researchers haven't yet produced any prototype, but according to their simulations and modeling such antennas are possible. The next step is to actually fabricate a graphene nano-antenna and operate it using a transceiver also based on graphene.

Researchers from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln developed a new way to produce carbon nanofibers. The used crumpled graphene as a template followed by carbonization. They say their method promises to improve composite materials at a low cost because they do not need a lot of expensive nano materials.

The UNL team developed a process to incorporate graphene oxide nanoparticles as a template to guide the formation and orientation of continuous carbon nanofibers, which should improve the fiber's properties. That process involves crumpling the graphene in a way that improves graphene as a templating and orientation agent.

A couple of months ago Cientifica raised £241,000 ($389,000) in the UK's stock exchange and the company is now public. According to press releases, Cientifica aims to acquire and build businesses that make use of graphene materials. The company will invest in by buying shares or by buying IP, assets or entering into partnerships of joint-venture arrangements.

Cientifica's CEO Tim Harper was kind enough to answer a few questions I had regarding the company's business and future plans. So first of all - congratulations Tim on the fund raising, the readmission to the AIM and on being the world's first pure-play-graphene applications public company!

Korean researchers developed a liquid-ion gated FET-type graphene-based aptasensor with highly sensitive and selective responses to various mercury ion concentrations. This sensor was shown to be a good detector of mercury in mussels.

Aptasensors are bio-sensors that use aptamers (artificial oligonucleotides: DNA or RNA) as a recognition element. The sensors developed in korea used a single-layer graphene sheet that was functionalized using an aptamer. This sensor is not just very sensitive and fast, but it's also flexible and highly stable mechanically.

Graphenea announced that it has received a 1 million Euro ($1.36 million) investment from Repsol Energy Ventures and CDTI Innvierte venture capital fund. The funds will be used to accelerate Graphenea's business plan towards industrialization. Graphenea's current pilot graphene production line has an annual capacity of 150,000 square centimeters per year.

Graphenea produces graphene using a CVD process and graphene flakes using chemical exfoliation. Graphenea says their materials (sold to over 40 countries) are used to develop applications such as batteries, supercapacitors, solar cells and more. The company has 11 employees and has doubled its revenue annually since it was launched. Graphene says the are the main graphene producer for the EU's 1 billion Euro 10-year Graphene Flagship project.

Researchers from the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) developed a new graphene substrate that may enable wafer-scale graphene production. The new substrate is actually copper, but with huge crystalline grains.

Graphene is usually grown on copper, but regular copper films are usually destroyed in the high temperatures required for graphene growth - as can be seen in the image above. The new substrate developed at NIST, with its massive crystalline grains survives the high temperatures.

Researchers from Rice University developed a simple method to reduce coal into graphene quantum dots (GQDs). Different types of coal produce differently-sized quantum dots (ranging from 2 to 20 nanometers). The yield is also very good - about 20% of the coal can be turned into GQDs. Those GQDs are water-soluble and non toxic (according to early tests).

This is a chemical method - the coal is crushed and than soaked in acid solutions (nitric and sulfuric acids) for 24 hours. This breaks the bonds that hold the tiny GQDs together.