March 2014

Turkey's Grafen is introducing a new graphene-based universal thermoplastic masterbatch. The easy to use GMB-U offers universal dispersibility in polyolefins and is aimed towards industrial products made of polyolefins.

Grafen says that the new masterbatch has been designed for excellent miscibility in all common polyolefins such as polypropylene and polyethylene to be processable in film extrusion and injection molding. The company says that thanks to innovative carrier resin chemistry, the graphene sheets efficiently exfoliate during thermoplastic compounding and mixing processes which ensures well bonded and dispersed graphene in polymer matrix.

Australia's Valence Industries signed an agreement with the University of Adelaide to establish a graphene research center in South Australia. Valence will fund the research program with 800,000 AUD ($740,000 USD) over 3.5 years.

The new research program has grown from work by Professor Dusan Losic and his team at the School of Engineering in the University of Adelaide. Professor Losic will continue to lead the research while Valence Industries aims to commercialize the products that result from that research.

Chemical maker Thomas Swan is introducing two new high quality graphene products, under the Elicarb brand. The first is Elicarb Graphene powder which is a graphene nanoplatelet powder, and the second is Elicarb Dispersion (AQ), a water/surfactant dispersed graphene nanoplatelets at a concentration of 1 gram/liter.

To produce these materials, Thomas Swan is using a proprietary graphite exfoliation process which was developed in collaboration with CRANN (Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices) at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. Thomas Swan says that these products are high conductivity graphene nanoplatelets, with average X-Y dimensions of 1000nm and are free from oxidation and catalyst residues.

Last month we reported that UK-based Perpetuus Carbon Technologies entered the graphene supply market and will soon start producing graphene materials (GNPs) in its new 100 annual-ton factory. Today Perpetuus launched two new graphene based products (developed in collaboration with Gwent Electronics Group).

The first is a graphene based ink that features a resistance below one ohm per square centimeter. Perpetuus says this is the most conductive graphene enabled ink in the world, and they are already able to immediately deliver single kilogram batches for R&D and manufacturing optimization. The company will be able to offer ton quantities later on. Perpetuus' inks are available in formulations for ink jet, flexographic printing and sensors technologies.

Grafoid announced that they signed a two-year agreement with Mitsui to identify and develop market opportunities in Japan for Grafoid’s MesoGraf materials.

The two companies will jointly undertake a one-year detailed market feasibility study to identify and evaluate market opportunities. They will then continue to formalize industrial and commercial development projects in Japan. Grafoid says that this agreement comes after months of discussions and independent laboratory validation and characterization of their materials.

In November 2013, Australia-based miner company Archer Exploration announced that the University of Adelaide has produced a wide number of graphene and intercalated graphite products from Archer's raw graphite ore.

Today Archer announced that it will fund a two-year $200,000 research program at the University of Adelaide to focus on commercial uses for the specific graphite and graphene types originating from Archer's deposits - especially in the agricultural and environmental markets.

It's been long known that adding calcium atoms between graphene sheets can make it superconductive. Now researchers from the US DoE SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University showed for the first time graphene's role in the superconductivity of this materials (called CaC6).

The researchers used intense ultraviolet light beams to see the structure of the CaC6 material. Using the light one can see how electrons scatter back and forth between the graphene and the calcium, interact with natural vibration in the atomic structure of the CaC6, and pair up to conduct electricity without resistance.

The UK government announces it will allocate new funds for several new science projects - for big data research, cell therapy and graphene. The UK will spend £19 million ($31 million) on graphene in the next five years.

Most of the graphene fund (£14 million) will go towards establishing the UK's Graphene Applications Innovation Centre (GAIC) which will be established by the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI). This innovation centre will help small and medium enterprise gain access to graphene technologies.

Graphene was first isolated in Manchester in 2004, and since then the UK is hoping to become a global graphene player. In 2011 the government allocated £50 million towards four graphene initiatives (including Manchester University's National Graphene Institute). In December 2012 the UK announced an extra funding of £21.5 million to boost graphene research and development in the UK.

Ortech announced that it was contracted by Caribou King (a Canadian miner company) to develop and test a process to produce graphene from high-grade graphite. Ortech has years of experience in the graphite industry and the company says they have technical expertise in developing metallurgical solutions for high purity mineral products and nanomaterials.

Ortech will be paid $120,000 (CAD) for a preliminary research and a first phase bench test of the process. Caribou may then proceed to the second phase bench test of the process and this will cost an additional $250,000. If all goes well, Ortech offers to construct a pilot plant to test the process for $2.5 million. If the plans go well, Caribou will own 49.0% of the technology underlying the process.

Engineering materials maker Oxford Advanced Surfaces Group says it is investigating the use of its Onto technology platform to chemically functionalize graphene. The company wants to modify graphene solvent or coating, and to improve the chemical interaction and adhesion.

Oxford Advanced Surfaces aims to find applications for its graphene materials in areas such as composites and electronics. The company is actively seeking partners for co-development of commercial graphene applications.