The leading German deposition equipment provider Aixtron announced that Nano Carbon (Poland) has ordered AIXTRON’s AIX G5 WW reactor for graphene production on silicon carbide. Nano Carbon owns a low-cost patented technique for epitaxial graphene that can be implemented on the AIXTRON system.

The equipment was ordered in the first quarter of 2015 and is due for delivery by the fourth quarter. The system will be configured to handle either ten 100mm or six 150mm substrates per run. The AIX G5 WW equipment provides high wafer throughput and is designed for the ultra-high temperatures needed for epitaxial graphene on SiC deposition.

A team of researchers at the University of California report on the preparation of a graphene hydrogel, which can be converted into solvated graphene frameworks that are stable 3D porous structures offering both fast lithium exchange and high conductivity. Using these frameworks as anode material, it is possible to assemble a lithium coin cell, with excellent capacities surpassing conventional graphite materials.

To prepare the graphene frameworks, the scientists used a modified hydrothermal method to generate free-standing cubes of a graphene hydrogel from graphite oxide. Solvent exchange converted the hydrogel structures into the 3D solvated graphene frameworks, which can be pressed in films needed for the coin cells without losing their porous graphene network. These anodes not only provided for much faster lithium diffusion, but also retained the large surface area and excellent conductivity of graphene sheets.

Graphenea's Inigo Charola recently announced that the Graphene Flagship has established a standardization committee. The committee will aim to deliver a publication within a year regarding standard methods of characterizing graphene. The end goal of the standardization effort is to produce a database of the different forms of graphene with all their properties and ways of measuring those properties, so that graphene sellers can properly categorize their products and buyers will know exactly what they are buying.

Currently there is no established standard for graphene, which causes much confusion in the market. 

Researchers at the California Institute of Technology announce themselves the first to invent a technique that will allow fast, room-temperature production of long sheets of high-quality graphene. They also say the process is scalable, fast and results in good quality graphene.

Until now, Caltech scientists have grown 1 centimeter graphene squares but plan to grow them to up to 4 inch. They will explore adding different molecules and compounds for varying effects. 

A collaboration of scientists from several institutions, including Northwestern, EFRC and more, discovered that graphene that is slightly imperfect can shuttle protons from one side of a graphene membrane to the other in seconds. The selectivity and speed of the imperfect version are compared to conventional membranes, opening the door to new and simpler model of fuel cell designs.

This, of course, goes against conventional efforts to create perfect graphene as it turns out that protons move better through imperfect graphene. The defects in the graphene trigger a chemical "conveyor belt" that shuttles protons from one side of the membrane to the other in a few seconds. In conventional membranes, which can be hundreds of nanometers thick, the desired proton selection takes minutes, compared to the quick transfer in a one-atom-thick layer of graphene.

Australia-based Talga Resources managed to raise $5.5 million AUD (around $4.2 million USD) in a discounted placement. These funds are aimed toward helping the company with its Swedish graphite projects and building a graphene demonstration plant in Germany.

The company states that this capital would strengthen its balance sheet and add depth to its register, in addition to accelerating and expanding opportunities to commercialize graphene through strategic relationships with industry.

Graphene 3D Lab announced that it has launched commercial sales of its conductive graphene filament for 3D printing. The filament incorporates highly conductive proprietary nanocarbon materials to enhance the properties of PLA, a widely used thermoplastic material for 3D printing. The filament is therefore compatible with most commercially available 3D printers. The conductive filament can be used to print conductive traces (similar to as used in circuit boards) within 3D printed parts for electronics.

The company's conductive filament is to be distributed through the Company's recently launched brand and e-commerce platform, Black Magic 3D, established as the trade name for all current and future Graphene 3D filaments.

Scientists from the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) have found a simple and robust means to magnetize graphene using hydrogen. They placed graphene on a silicon wafer and dipped it in cryogenic ammonia with lithium (as this is a quick and gentle method to add hydrogen atoms and make the surface ferromagnetic).

Part of a large array generated by electron-beam lithography, containing ferromagnetic hydrogenated graphene lattice and the 50 nm nonmagnetic squares

Once made, the magnetic graphene was of exceptional quality. The scientists claim that it was surprising how the partially hydrogenated graphene prepared by this method was so uniform in its magnetism and apparently didn't have any magnetic grain boundaries. The NRL group also showed that the magnetic strength could be tuned by removing hydrogen atoms with an electron beam. The impact of the electrons can break the chemical bond between the graphene and the hydrogen, removing the hydrogen from the surface.

This week's Graphene-info personal interview features Grafen's founder, Ibrahim Mutlay. If you wish to be featured, contact us here.

• Ibrahim Mutlay, founder of Grafen Chemical Industries Co.:  I’m in carbon nanomaterial technology over ten years and still seeking but exciting to find new commercial applications. 

Alabama Graphite announced that it has found naturally occurring flake graphene at its Coosa Property in Alabama, USA. The graphene was obtained using an innovative and cost effective process, by Dr. Nitin Chopra of The University of Alabama under their sponsored research partnership.

The company believes that this discovery of naturally occurring single and multi-layer graphene opens a completely new and unique business dimension for the Company and emerging technologies using graphene could greatly benefit from a cost effective processing methodology, with the potential for improved economics and increased production levels relative to any of the current methods used to create synthetic graphene. The company claims the work done on its material has the potential to enhance the process of producing scalable, nano-manufactured graphene and graphene-based derivatives.