Graphene Nanochem reported their financial revenues for 2014, with revenues of £48.3 million - up 53% from 2013, mostly due to contracted sales to Shell and Chevron.

Operating loss for 2014 was £6.8 million (down from £10.1 million), but the company reports a gross profit of £1.6 million - despite a feedstock price anomaly for the year. Delays in the roll out of graphene-based products are to be blame for the operating loss.

Thomas Swan has announced the extension of its product portfolio to include non-carbon 2D materials. The company will supply a range of non-carbon 2D materials, such as boron nitride, molybdenum disulphide and molybdenum trioxide which will be available in gram quantities from summer 2015.

The company uses a proprietary Direct Liquid Exfoliation process which was developed in collaboration with AMBER (Advanced Materials and BioEngineering Research Centre) at Trinity College Dublin. Building on its know-how in the manufacture of graphene, the company can scale the manufacture of 2D materials by exfoliation of layered raw materials. 

Graphene Nanochem announced a significant order for its PlatDrill Series drilling fluid worth $28 million with an undisclosed national oil company.

The deal came through Graphene Nanochem’s connections with Scomi Oiltools and deliveries should begin in the fourth quarter. The company is, of course, very happy with this tender and claims it will give it "excellent revenue visibility".

Scientists at the Goethe University in Germany have developed a new class of organic luminescent materials through the targeted introduction of boron atoms into the molecular structures of graphene. The compound feature an intensive blue fluorescence and are therefore of interest for use in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). 

A comparison of the new boron-containing nanographenes with an analogous boron-free material verifies the fact that the boron atoms have a great impact on two important properties of an OLED: the fluorescence shifts into the desirable blue spectral range and the capacity to transport electrons is substantially improved. currently, very limited use can be made of boron-containing nanographenes, since most of the exponents are sensitive to air and moisture. The scientists in this study claim that this problem does not occur with their materials, which is important with regard to practical applications. 

The Malaysian energy company Scomi Energy has announced the development of three graphene-enhanced lubricants called Plat Drill, Confi Graph Lube and Hype Graph Lube. The lubricants, based on graphene nanotechnology, help prolong the lifespan of the diamond drillbits used in oil drills. The products improve on the efficiency of the drilling process and reduce maintenance cost. Scomi Energy has patented this technology with its partners and is in the process of rolling it out to its customers in FY 2016 (which actually means by March 2017).

Since Scomi is collaborating with Graphene Nanochem on the development of the PlatDrill, It is reasonable to assume that the Confi Graph and Hype Graph are also the fruit of this cooperation. Graphene Nanochem is presumably in charge of the technical development while Scomi will most likely handle marketing and sales. 

Graphenea recently introduced large area monolayer graphene suspended over microcavities as a standard catalog product, that can be used for NEMS (Nanoelectromechanical systems) due to its reliance on small vibrating membranes, which are sensitive to tiny forces.

Image courtesy of Stefan Wagner / Max Lemme, University of Siegen

NEMS are entering mainstream technology through sensors and actuators in platforms as common as inkjet printers, accelerometers, displays, and optical switches. The membranes used in NEMS need to be lightweight and stiff, with a high Young's modulus. As such, graphene is a very promising candidate for applications that require ultrathin membranes with excellent mechanical properties.

Researchers from the University of Maryland found that intercalating (embedding) sodium ions in a reduced graphene oxide (rGO) network, printed with graphene oxide (GO) ink, can significantly improve its performance as a transparent conductor in displays, solar cells and electronic devices.

The scientists used cost-effective materials and production techniques to receive a highly scalable printed electronics system that produces relatively inexpensive and stable conductors. The team theorizes the increased stability is due to the natural oxidation of sodium along the edges of the printed networks which forms a barrier that prevents ion loss. Networks printed with the ink exhibit up to 79 percent optical transmittance and 311 Ohms per square of sheet resistance.

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Researchers from Trinity College in Ireland, Montreal McGill University in Canada and the Université Grenoble Alpes in France have designed a graphene-based biosensor that can detect cholera toxins. It provides a reading in minutes, as opposed to current detection methods that may take hours.

The researchers explain that this biosensor could be modified to detect various other toxins like malaria and TB. They used graphene layers that cling tightly to the sensor's surface, but also hold the biological indicator that can read the presence of the cholera toxin. The graphene also delivered an unexpected effect - it boosted the sensor signal to give a two-fold increase on the response which made it much easier to get a reading. Graphene’s ability to boost sensors' signals also means that a smaller sample is required from the patient for detection, for example a pin-prick drop of blood, compared to a vial.

Graphenea, the leading graphene manufacturer and supplier, announced plans to construct a new graphene pilot plant. $2.5 million will be invested in building the plant, which is meant to be opened in 24 months and multiply production capacity by 200 times.

Graphenea was granted $1.8 million by the EU for the construction of this plant, as part of the Horizon 2020 program 'SME Instrument' for the enlargement and growth of its industrial project. The other $700,000 come from Graphenea's own equity from its last financing round. Graphenea also stated that: "if the phase pilot plant is successful, Graphenea will move to an industrial phase that will require a larger investment."