In December 2014, Rice University researchers designed a process (called LIG) in which a computer-controlled laser burns through a polymer to create flexible, patterned sheets of multilayer graphene that may be suitable for electronics or energy storage.

Now, their research has advanced to use the LIG process to produce 3D supercapacitors. The scientists made supercapacitors with laser-induced graphene on both sides of a polymer sheet. The sections were stacked with solid electrolytes in between, to get a multilayer construct with multiple micro-supercapacitors.

The Spanish Graphenea collaborated with researchers from the French CNRS and SENSIA SL to design a graphene-based biosensor and develop a graphene-based method to destroy harmful bacteria.

The researchers studied the possibility to kill E. coli pathogens using reduced graphene oxide (rGO-PEG-NH2) and Au nanorods (Nrs) coated with rGO-PEG-NH2 by laser irradiation. The encapsulation of Au NRs with rGO-PEG not only decreases the toxicity of Au NRs, but also enhances the overall photothermal process and thus the temperatures which can be reached. 99% killing efficiency of bacteria was demonstrated in a water solution, at low concentrations (20-49 mg/ml).

In the past few weeks we launched a new branding drive here at Graphene-Info. So in the near future there will be many changes here - and the first one is the new logo that we updated today. Stay tuned!

Silicene is a unique 2d form of silicon that may hold potential for various computing applications. Its hard-to-handle nature, though, renders it so far unused, despite its potent electrical properties. A scientist from the University of Texas has recently been able to succeed in making the first silicene transistor, which lives up to the promise with its extraordinary switching speed.

The scientist grew silicene on a wafer, then stored it in a vacuum to prevent degrading from taking place. It remains unknown if silicene will indeed become a major building block in the future, but this success in making a transistor out of it confirms its impressive potential, with electrons that move it with almost no resistance.Silicene is also appealing as its made from silicon, which is already in extensive use and stems from a highly developed industry.

Graphene Nanochem announced the signing of an agreement with what they called "one of the world's top five international oil companies" for testing and evaluating its PlatDrill series.

Graphene Nanochem's joint venture partner, Scomi-Platinum, was the one to sign the agreement with the unrevealed oil company. The agreement includes the performance of tests by the oil company to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2015, when a potential commercial agreement could be discussed. 

The Graphene Nanochem group aims to expand the market share for PlatDrill and the agreement  aims to support the objective of the group in establishing presence and increasing sales worldwide.

Researchers at the South Dakota State University agricultural and biosystems engineering department used a pyrolysis process to turn various materials (corn stover, dried grains and grasses) into graphene. The pyrolysis process turns the plant materials into bio-oil and biochar, and further processing turns it into biofuel.

Turning biochar into graphene can have many uses, like replacing activated carbon coatings of electrodes used in supercapacitors. Graphene has a much higher monetary value than the plant products in this process, so it can be highly worhtwhile to turn these agricultural residues into graphene. 

Researchers at the University of Manchester (led by Novoselov, one of the original isolators of graphene and Nobel winner) and University of Sheffield have developed a prototype of a semi-transparent graphene-based LED device that could lay the foundation for flexible screens, to be used in next-gen mobile phones, tablets and TVs. This extremely thin display (about 10-40 atoms thick) was created using sandwiched "heterostructures" and emits a sheet of light across its entire surface.

The 2D LED comprises of metallic graphene, hexagonal boron nitride and various semiconducting monolayers. This prototype shows that graphene (combined with other flexible 2D materials) is not just limited to simple electronic displays, but could be exploited to create light emitting devices that are thin, flexible, semi-transparent and intrinsically bright.

Researchers from the Korean Sungkyunkwan University announced the development of a sponge-like electrode material using graphene and a polymer that enables the assembly of a light and efficient graphene battery.

The electrode was made from porous graphene aerogel that was a result of combining alcohol and graphene. The graphene aerogel electrode material is easily compressed and highly durable, with about 90-99.9 percent of it filled with air and pores smaller than 100 nanometers that form a 3D web.

Talga has entered into a joint work program with Dresden University of Technology and the Max Planck Institute, to test and develop low cost bulk graphene production for supercapacitor and battery related applications.

This 12 month research program aims to test and demonstrate the company's low cost bulk graphene product for supercapacitor and other battery related applications. Professor Feng from Dresden University will head the joint work program alongside Professor Klaus Müllen at Max Planck. Both Professors Müllen chair research clusters within the €1 billion Graphene Flagship program.

Graphene 3D Lab announced that it has received and assembled an industrial scale thermoplastic extruder line, to be used in the production of conductive graphene filament. The equipment has a production capacity of up to 10 kg per hour of 3D printer filament and is now operational. The company states that sales of conductive graphene filament are expected to begin around March 2015.

The company relays that it is excited to be making the transition from developing the materials in the research lab to beginning industrial scale production and moving forward to revenue generation. Graphene 3D plans to continue expansion of production capacity in the near future, to accommodate the anticipated growing demand for such materials.