Researchers at Stanford University in California have developed a new material comprising interspersed layers of graphene and phosphorene that has been shown to be a more stable, more conductive and higher capacity anode for sodium ion batteries than previous materials. The researchers believe it could be industrially compatible, and potentially allow sodium ion batteries to become useful for large-scale energy storage.

The graphene layers provide an elastic buffer and function as an electrical highway, allowing charge to get in and out faster. The phosphorene and graphene were both produced by scalable liquid exfoliation, and the sandwich structure self-assembled when suspensions of the two components were mixed and the solvent was evaporated.

Researchers at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) have developed efficient and low-cost semitransparent perovskite solar cells with graphene electrodes. The power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of this novel invention are around 12% when they are illuminated from Fluorine-doped Tin Oxide bottom electrodes (FTO) or the graphene top electrodes, compared with 7% of conventional semitransparent solar cells.

PolyU researchers used graphene as an electrode material, after creating simple processing techniques for enhancing the conductivity of graphene to meet the requirement of its applications in solar cells. To begin with, the conductivity of graphene was dramatically improved by coating a thin layer of conductive polymer that was also used as an adhesion layer to the perovskite active layer during the lamination process. In addition, to further improve the efficiency of power conversion, PolyU researchers found that by fabricating the solar cell with multilayer CVD graphene as top transparent electrodes, the sheet resistance of the electrode could be further reduced while maintaining the high transparency of the electrodes. Lastly, the performance of this novel invention is further optimized by improving the contact between the top graphene electrodes and the hole transport layer on the perovskite films.

Haydale's subsidiary Haydale Composite Solutions (HCS), has entered into a collaborative 18 month research project awarded and managed by the National Aerospace Technology Exploitation Programme (NATEP) and involves two end users, Airbus UK and BAE Systems. The research project aims to produce a material less likely to be damaged by lightning strike on an aircraft.

Carbon fiber composites are used extensively in aircraft applications such as fuselages, leading edges and wing surfaces. However, because the carbon fiber reinforced epoxy composite materials are poor conductors of electricity they are prone to damage caused by lightning strike. The aim of this new project is to develop highly electrically conductive epoxy resins through the addition of functionalized graphene which, when combined with conductive carbon fiber, is expected to result in a highly conductive carbon fiber reinforced epoxy composite material capable of withstanding lightning strike.

A group of Korean scientists demonstrated a novel concept of graphene transistors on Scotch tape for use in ubiquitous electronic systems. Unlike common plastic substrates, the Scotch tape substrate is easily attached onto various objects such as banknotes, curved surfaces, and human skin, which implies potential applications wherein electronics can be placed in any desired position. Also, the Scotch tape serves as an agreeable substrate for flexible/foldable electronics that can be significantly bent, or even crumpled.

In a research funded by a U.S. Department of Defense-Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative grant and Wenzhou Medical University, an international team of scientists has developed what is referred to as the first one-step process for making seamless carbon-based nanomaterials that possess superior thermal, electrical and mechanical properties in 3D. The research may hold potential for increased energy storage in high efficiency batteries and supercapacitors, increasing the efficiency of energy conversion in solar cells, for lightweight thermal coatings and more. 

The group's early testing showed that a 3D fiber-like supercapacitor made with uninterrupted fibers of carbon nanotubes and graphene matched or even surpassed bettered the reported record-high capacities for such devices. When tested as a counter electrode in a dye-sensitized solar cell, the material enabled the cell to convert power with up to 6.8% efficiency and more than doubled the performance of a similar cell that used an expensive platinum wire counter electrode. 

Today we launched Graphene-Info's new design. The changes are not dramatic, but we changed some of the menu system, made the site (hopefully) cleaner and more modern. Most importantly, this design is now mobile-friendly and should prove easier to read on smartphones.

We hope this design will make the site nicer and easier to read, we'll be happy to hear your thoughts and comments!

The University of Manchester has been awarded a £3 million research grant to develop breakthrough applications for various 2D materials, graphene included. The five year grant, from charity Lloyd’s Register Foundation, will aim to examine how combining one-atom-thick materials could create unique materials, customized for the demands of industry and commercial applications like flexible optoelectronics, gas separation and water desalination.

Sir Andre Geim, the Physics Nobel prize laureate, will lead a consortium that includes Harvard University, National University of Singapore, ETH Zurich and the Japanese National Institute for Materials Science. Geim states that the subject area has now matured and is ready for applications. The consortium plans to exploit the breakthrough discoveries made by its groups over the last 10 years and endeavour into unknown territories, aiming at opening new research fronts and developing fundamentally new technologies. 

A few weeks ago we reported on a new IDTechEx market report, in which they predict that the graphene market will reach nearly $200 million by 2026, with the estimation that the largest sectors will be composites, energy applications and graphene coatings.

We were very interested in learning more, and Dr Khasha Ghaffarzadeh, IDTechEx's head of consulting was kind enough to answer a few questions and explain the company's view on the graphene market.

Q: IDTechEx has been following graphene for a long time with dedicated events and reports. Why is this new material interesting for IDTechEx?

We have a long track record of analyzing emerging advanced materials such as quantum dots, CNTs, Ag nanostructures, silicon nanostructures, OLED materials, etc. We were however pulled into the world of graphene by our clients’ questions. Once in, we soon realized that there is a big synergy between graphene and our events. in fact, our events on supercapacitors and printed electronics were the right near-term addressable market for graphene, and that is why we managed to rapidly build up the largest business-focused event on graphene. Our events on graphene are held in the USA and Europe each year see www.IDTechEx.com/usa.

A group of scientists from Russia, USA and China used computer generated simulations to predict the existence of a new 2D carbon material, a "patchwork" analogue of graphene called phagraphene. Unlike graphene, phagraphene consists of penta-, hexa- and heptagonal carbon rings and its name is made of a contraction of Penta-Hexa-heptA-graphene. 

Phagraphene is expected to share many of the same properties with graphene. The researchers say that in phagraphene, due to the different number of atoms in the rings, some properties are predicted to be different and that it would be interesting to see where it might be useful.