A team of researchers at Kyushu University's International Institute for Carbon-Neutral Energy Research (I2CNER) designed a method that could prove a real breakthrough technology for fuel cells - by showing how wrapping a graphene support in a specially prepared polymer provides an excellent foundation for making uniform, highly active gold nanoparticle catalysts.

Gold nanoparticles have been recognized as an agreeable solution for improving the performance of catalysts that could be used in fuel cells, but creating a uniform, useful catalyst still remained elusive. However, the team in this study devised a method for using a new type of catalyst support. By wrapping the support in the polymer that was developed, the scientists created a much better support environment for the gold nanoparticles.

The graphene keynote speech in the MWC 2016 included Nokia's Head of Business Line, Tapani Ryhanen's talk on graphene activity in Nokia.

It was a fascinating segment that shed light on the company's graphene-related activities, some of which (as can be seen in the image above) are energy storage applications, sensors, various electronic devices, photonics, optoelectronics and even graphene manufacturing - which shows that the company is really aiming at completing a full circle of graphene use.

Today we published a new version of our Graphene Batteries Market Report. Graphene-Info provides comprehensive niche Graphene market reports, and our reports cover everything you need to know about the niche market, and can be useful if you want to understand how the graphene industry works and what this technology can provide for your own industry.

The Graphene Batteries Market Report:

• The advantages using graphene batteries
• The different ways graphene can be used in batteries
• Various types of graphene materials
• What's on the market today
• Detailed specifications of some graphene-enhanced anode material
• Personal contact details into most graphene developers

The report package provides a great introduction to the graphene batteries market - present and future. Read more here!

Project GRASS aims to achieve on-the-field design, development, testing and validating of an innovative prototype of Graphene-Related Node for a Wireless Sensors Network, to be used as autonomous systems for Environmental Monitoring in different areas. The sensor is based on graphene that makes it very energy efficient, which is a major advantage in such components that need to be numerous and work continuously.

The project, along with all of its partners, are members of the Graphene Flagship, and at MWC 2016 we visited their stand and saw their graphene-based NO₂ sensor, that as opposed to conventional sensors (that require continuous heating), needs no heating but does require UV light.

Chilean company Grupo Avance says it has discovered an innovative formula that acts as a repellent of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, carrier of the Zika virus, dengue fever and other diseases. This formula consists of several surprising ingredients, like graphene, copper powder and lactone.

The company claims that washing clothes at home with this Zika-repellent detergent is enough to avoid getting bitten by the mosquito. The inventor says this is a "bioadditive" that, when mixed with normal detergent, provides protective clothing for people who live in or travel to areas affected by the carrier mosquito.

IIT-Madras (Indian Institute of Technology) is planning to set up a centre of excellence for graphene, in which to conduct quality research and development. It is estimated to require about Rs 100 crore (over $20 million) over a 10-year period, as well as local and international academic collaborations, and budgeting for the centre is being currently worked out.

IIT-M is targeting internationally well known universities in the UK and holding discussions with a large industrial house that will hopefully become the anchor investor. The Centre of Excellence to work on multiple aspects of graphene technology, including producing, functionalizing and finding applications for the material. IIT-Madras is expected to make a formal announcement on the centre in about 45 days.

The University of Michigan is currently developing a camera able to record 3D images and video, in a $1.2 million project funded the W.M. Keck Foundation. The camera will have graphene-based light detectors, and should be smaller than other existing models - as well as achieve higher resolutions.

Light that hits camera detectors can come from different directions, which translates into spatial information that can be used to reconstruct 3D images; Normally, that information is lost because the detector only measures intensity, which is also the reason that 3D images made with traditional recording methods must be constructed from multiple shots. Existing one-shot 3D cameras rely on a micro-lens array to divert the light after it has been focused by the main lens. This array of smaller lenses recovers the directional information from the rays of light, and then the camera's software reconstructs the image along with the depth information.

Researchers at Plymouth University, Cambridge and Tohoku (Japan) Universities and Nokia Technologies have found that electrical signals transmitted at high frequencies through graphene do not lose energy. In fact, the study showed that graphene out-performs any other known material, including superconductors, when carrying high-frequency electrical signals compared to direct current.

This finding may result in wide-ranging technology developments like next generation high-speed transistors, amplifiers, mobile phones, satellite communications and ultra-sensitive biological sensors.

The Graphene Pavilion at the 2016 MWC included Graphene Security's impressive stand, that showed their new graphene-based RFID tags - hopefully to hit the market in the next few months.

The tags are printed using a graphene-based ink, and are not only cheaper than existing ones but are also printable on almost extremely flexible and varied surfaces - even paper. The tags are also great in terms of performance, and sport a large functioning range.

Last week the Graphene-Info team visited the MWC - the world's largest mobile technologies conference held in Barcelona, which this year included a graphene pavilion, organized by the ICFO and the Graphene Flagship, Europe's $1 billion research project initiative.

One of the companies showcased in the pavilion was the Italy-based GNext, that demonstrated its graphene-based ink, used for rapid fabrication of electronic devices. GNext's ink can be printed using many common techniques on a wide range of substrates, including biopolymers such as PLA, and achieving a volume resistivity below 4 ohm/sq/mil.