Oros Apparel is a U.S-based company that manufactures thermal outerwear based on aerogel technology. The company is now developing gloves made from graphene-coated aerogels that keep body warmth inside the gloves and insulate from low outer temperatures. We spoke with them to get a better understanding of their graphene activity.

The company says that the graphene, with its high heat conductivity, is placed between the body and the aerogel, thus helping to trap the body heat inside. This yields better insulation than regular aerogels without graphene. In fact, the company states that it is only making gloves and not jackets or other garments as these would be too warm to wear.

The Graphene Pavilion at the 2016 MWC included the ICFO's (Institute of Photonic Sciences in Barcelona, Spain) exciting stand, that showcased and demonstrated graphene-based technologies like a flexible and transparent light sensor and a fitness wearable.

Prof. Frank Koppens, Group Leader at the ICFO, stated that: "The sensors and wearables are working very well but we don’t have yet a plan to make a large number. Once a company decides to invest, this can rapidly change. So anything between 2 and 5 years is foreseeable."

According to The Times, the UK is set to launch an investigation relating to the NGI and BGT Materials. The inquiry will follow concerns that lucrative information could be passed to China through BGT, a British company majority-owned by a Taiwanese businessman. It was even claimed that academics refuse to work at the £61 million National Graphene Institute (NGI) due to these concerns.

The NGI and BGT refute these claims. The NGI stated that: "The University of Manchester has thoroughly investigated all of the claims and allegations put to it by the Sunday Times and has found no evidence whatsoever that BGT Materials or Bluestone has had access, outside of any confidentiality undertaking, to confidential research programmes or that there were insufficient safeguards to protect the University’s Intellectual Property.

IDTechEx Research recently released a report that projects that the graphene market will grow to $220 million in 2026, a 10% growth from their former report that predicted that the graphene market will reach nearly $200 million by 2026. This forecast is at the material level and does not count the value of graphene-enabled products.

According to IDTechEx, a continual decline in average sales prices will accompany the revenue growth, meaning that volume sales will reach nearly 3.8 k tonnes per year in 2026. Despite this, IDTechEx forecasts suggest that the industry will remain in a state of over-capacity until 2021 beyond which time new capacity will need to be installed. Furthermore, IDTechEx Research forecasts that nearly 90% of the market value will go to graphene platelets (vs. sheets) in 2026.

Haydale is developing, along with BAC Mono, a graphene-enhanced body panel for BAC's single seat road car. The graphene-enhanced epoxy resin has reportedly delivered increased strength and a "significant weight and cost reduction".

BAC representatives stated that "At BAC we focus heavily on innovation and we were delighted to work with graphene composite industry leaders Haydale on this project. It marks another world first for BAC and the beginning of a project with a broad range of exciting possibilities."

NanoMalaysia, a company under the Malaysian Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) set up to promote nanotechnology commercialization activities, has announced that 360 new products will be commercialized according to the government plans, with Malaysia's National Graphene Action Plan (NGAP) 2020 assisting with some of these products. NGAP2020 aims to generate about 9,000 jobs and RM20 billion ($4.86 Billion) GNI impact by the year 2020.

The minister of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) announced during a recent ceremony that companies have signed memorandums of agreement (MoUs), which will help to build a local graphene ecosystem and speed up downstream adoption. This adoption of graphene will involve downstream graphene-based application development for specialty and consumer products ranging from tyres, automotive components, water pipes and ultra-capacitors.

Haydale's Composite Solutions division (HCS) has announced the launch of three graphene enhanced carbon fibre pre-impregnated (prepreg) products, in collaboration with SHD Composite Materials Ltd (Sleaford, Lincolnshire, UK) using epoxy resins from Huntsman Advanced Materials.

The products to be launched include a structural component carbon fibre prepreg, a prototype Out-of-Autoclave curing carbon fibre tooling prepreg capable of fast composite part production in autoclave processing and a higher operating temperature prepreg for enhanced life and very high accuracy tooling.

Researchers from the US and Australia used graphene oxide to design a filter that allows water and other liquids to be filtered nine times faster than the current leading commercial filter, by developing a viscous form of graphene oxide that could be spread very thinly with a blade.

The researchers explain that this technique creates a uniform arrangement in the graphene, and that evenness gives the filter special properties; The filter can capture viruses and bacteria - in fact, anything larger than one nanometer cannot get through the graphene layer.

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have developed a battery-like hydrogen fuel cell, which surrounds hydrogen-absorbing magnesium nanocrystals with graphene oxide sheets to improve its performance.

The graphene shields the nanocrystals from oxygen, moisture and contaminants, while tiny, natural holes allow the smaller hydrogen molecules to pass through. This filtering process overcomes common problems degrading the performance of metal hydrids for hydrogen storage. The graphene-encapsulated magnesium crystals act as "sponges" for hydrogen, offering a very compact and safe way to take in and store hydrogen. The nanocrystals also permit faster fueling, and reduce the overall size.

Researchers at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart and the Institute for Complex Systems in Rome studied how the size and concentration of graphene-oxide sheets affects its antimicrobial capabilities. They found that GO was extremely effective against bacteria, even in low concentrations and sizes, which could mean that it can be used as a coating material for medical instruments and devices to reduce infections, as well as reducing antibiotic use and antibiotic resistance.

The team examined the effect of GO on three bacteria: Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus faecalis, both of which cause various opportunistic and hospital-acquired infections, and Escherichia coli, which can cause severe food poisoning. They found that 200 nm sheets of graphene oxide in a water solution killed around 90% of S. aureus and E. faecalis, and around 50% of E. coli in less than two hours. Graphene oxide was effective against bacteria, even at concentrations below 10 μg/ml.