PEN (Products Enabled by Nanotechnology), a U.S-based company that seeks to harness the potential of nanotechnology in real-world applications, has announced the launch of a graphene-based product to be used in the production of nuclear pharmaceuticals that will be used as diagnostic imaging biomarkers. Patients are given such pharmaceuticals when undergoing Positron Emission Tomography (PET) which is a molecular imaging system that provides clinicians detailed information about diseases such as cancer, neurological disorders and cardiovascular disease.

The new product has been developed by Applied Nanotech, PEN's subsidiary. It is a thin carbon foil made of layers of graphene for use in cyclotron accelerators that produce nuclear pharmaceuticals. The new graphene foils were part of a DOE Phase II SBIR effort to develop carbon foils for next generation ion beam accelerators, and can serve as either stripper foils or extraction foils, both of which are integral to the operation of ion beam accelerators.

Researchers at Stanford University have recently performed three separate experiments that suggest graphene in computing and telecommunications could radically cut energy consumption. This work was done in search of post-silicon materials and technologies that enable storing more data per square inch and use a fraction of the energy of currently used memory chips.

All three experiments involve graphene, and test different ways to use it in new storage technologies. The scientists claim that graphene can have interesting mobile applications of these new technologies, but post-silicon memory chips may transform server farms that store and deliver quick access to enormous quantities of data stored in the cloud.

An international team of scientists from Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), the University of Maryland and more, have developed a graphene-based optical detector which reacts very rapidly to incident light of all different wavelengths and works at room temperature. It is reportedly the first time that a single detector has been able to monitor the spectral range from visible light to infrared radiation and right through to terahertz radiation.

The graphene detector is made of graphene on silicon carbide, along with a unique antenna. It is regarded as a comparatively simple and inexpensive construct that can cover the huge spectral range from visible light all the way to terahertz radiation, as graphene can pick up light with a very large range of photon energies and convert it into electric signals (unlike semiconductors like silicon or gallium arsenide). The broadband antenna and the right substrate were enough to supplement graphene and create the ideal conditions for this unique detector, that can be used for the exact synchronization of laser systems.

Carbon Sciences, the U.S-based company focused on developing graphene-based technologies, recently declared that it is working on developing graphene-based fiber optics components, such as photodetectors, fiber lasers and optical switches.

The company stated that its goal has been to help unclog the existing bottlenecks and enable ultrafast communication in data centers for cloud computing. After further investigation, it has come to realize the enormity of the IT market and decided to focus creating unique solutions and products for this market.

Researchers at Japan's RIKEN have discovered that wrinkles in graphene can restrict the motion of electrons to one dimension, forming a junction-like structure that changes from zero-gap conductor to semiconductor back to zero-gap conductor. Moreover, they have used the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope to manipulate the formation of wrinkles, opening the way to the construction of graphene semiconductors by manipulating the carbon structure itself in a form of "graphene engineering."

The scientists were able to image the tiny wrinkles using scanning tunneling microscopy, and discovered that there were band gap openings within them, indicating that the wrinkles could act as semiconductors. Two possibilities were Initially considered for the emergence of this band gap. One is that the mechanical strain could cause a magnetic phenomenon, but the scientists ruled this out, and concluded that the phenomenon was caused by the confinement of electrons in a single dimension due to "quantum confinement."

Applied Graphene Materials has entered into a joint development agreement with German lubricants and oils business Puralube Germany (which will be shortly changing its name to Puraglobe).

QuantumWise announced the 2015 version of their Virtual NanoLab and Atomistix ToolKit atomic-scale modeling platform software. The company says that this new version includes several performance updates and new features - such as electron-phonon interaction, a new Job Manager, and a long range of analysis functions for molecular dynamics simulations. The company also announced that Virtual NanoLab (but not ATK) is now available completely free of charge to academic users.

Specifically for graphene (and other 2D materials) development, the new quasi-inelastic and fully inelastic electron-phonon scattering features will be very interesting. QuantumWise says that the new molecular dynamics (MD) and ion dynamics functionalities which combined to the graphical interface VNL are the optimal tools to study mechanical and thermal properties of graphene and other 2D systems.

Scientists at Rice University and colleagues at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the University of Texas at San Antonio and the University of Houston have reported the development of a graphene-based robust, solid-state catalyst that shows promise to replace expensive platinum for hydrogen generation.

The researchers have shown that graphene, doped with nitrogen and augmented with cobalt atoms, is an effective and durable catalyst for the production of hydrogen from water. This could be used in fuel cells, among other applications. 

Scientists at University College London (UCL) have identified a potentially faster way of moving molecules across the surfaces of graphene and other materials. The team carried out computer simulations of tiny droplets of water as they interact with graphene surfaces that reveal that the molecules can "surf" across the surface whilst being carried by the moving ripples of graphene.

The study shows that because the molecules were swept along by the movement of strong ripples in the carbon fabric of graphene, they were able to move at a fast rate, at least ten times faster than previously observed. It was also found that by altering the size of the ripples and the type of molecules on the surface, it's possible to achieve fast and controlled motion of molecules other than water.

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