November 2016

Huawei unveiled a new Li-Ion battery that can remain functional at higher temperature (60° degrees as opposed to the existing 50° limit) and offers a longer operation time - double than what can be achieved with previous batteries.

To achieve this breakthrough, Huawei incorporated several new technologies - including an anti-decomposition additives in the electrolyte, chemically stabilized single crystal cathodes - and graphene to facilitate heat dissipation. Huawei says that the graphene reduces the battery's operating temperature by 5 degrees.

The Spain-based Avanzare, nanomaterials and nanotechnology-based solutions provider and Graphene Flagship partner, has introduced to the market a graphene additive for industrial resins used for corrosion-resistant tanks and pipes for storage and transport of potentially explosive chemicals. Their product will be showcased at the Composites Europe exhibition, running from the 29 November to 1 December in Düsseldorf, Germany.

The company's graphene-based product can be used to help avoid explosions due to electrostatic charges. Avanzare aims to produce vessels and equipment using resins instead of the usual metals; These resins are also cheaper, lighter and have very good corrosion resistance. The graphene-resin, claimed to already be in use in high-volume industry applications, was developed by Avanzare through a collaboration with Ashland, an international chemical manufacturing company. According to company reports, the graphene-resin is already in use in chemical plants across Europe, and Ashland has installed graphene-resin systems in their facilities in Spain.

The Graphene Flagship's Italian partner CNR-ISOF has found that it is possible to use graphene to produce fully flexible NFC antennas. By combining material characterization, computer modelling and engineering of the device, the Graphene Flagship researchers designed an antenna that could exchange information with near-field communication devices such as a mobile phone, matching the performance of conventional metallic antennas.

The graphene-based NFC antennas are chemically inert, highly resistant to thousands of bending cycles and can be deposited on different standard polymeric substrates or silk tissues. The fully flexible graphene NFC device demonstrators were tested with a smartphone through the NFC reader App by the Graphene Flagship partner STMicroelectronics, showing good functionality whether flat or fixed on curved objects.

A graphene oxide (GO) sensor co-developed by the ICN2 Nanobioelectronics and Biosensors group has recently been added to the list products offered by Biolin Scientific, a prestigious instrumentation company devoted to the production of analytical devices. The Q-Sense GO sensor enables interaction studies of GO with various analytes (measured substances) of interest and may open the door to various applications with interest for diagnostics, safety/security and environmental monitoring.

Biolin Scientific, a leading Nordic instrumentation company, develops products based on nanotechnology and advanced measurement techniques. The company has a line of instrumentation called Q-Sense, which deals with instruments that enable real-time analysis of surface-molecule interactions with nanogram precision for a wide variety of samples and measurement conditions. Biolin Scientific wanted to incorporate a graphene coated sensor in its Q-Sense sensors list. The collaboration between ICN2 and the Nordic company became plausible because the Institute already had expertise transferring graphene to the surface of interest.

Versarien, the advanced materials group, announced the receipt of a significant graphene order for a carbon fibre composite related OEM application.

Versarien has received an order with a value of over £100,000 (around $124,900 USD) for graphene in the form of Few Layer Graphene Nano Platelets (GNPs) from a European commercial customer, in conjunction with the NGI. This graphene will be certified by the NGI and Versarien will be handling the dispersion of the GNPs into the resin to be used by the customer. The resin will be provided by the customer free of charge and will be returned to the customer in Europe once mixed with Versarien's GNPs.

Researchers at the Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST) in South Korea and the University of Basel in Switzerland have developed a new graphene-based photodetector, that is regarded as the world's first graphene-based microwave photodetector. The sensor can reportedly detect 100,000 times less light energy than any existing graphene photodetector and may be useful in applications like wearable devices and flexible displays.

The teams studied the microwave absorption capabilities of bilayer graphene arranged into p-n junctions. Previous attempts to study the microwave range in photodetection met a considerable obstacle - the microwave on the detector itself had much smaller energy than the surface potential difference caused by the surrounding environment. This included residues on the surface of graphene that were left behind during its fabrication.

Researchers at the University of Cambridge in the UK and Jiangnan University in China have designed a low-cost, sustainable and environmentally-friendly method for making conductive cotton textiles using graphene-based ink. These fabrics could lead to smart textiles and interactive clothes that will find applications in healthcare, wearables, Internet of Things and more.

The team created inks of chemically modified graphene flakes that are more adhesive to cotton fibers than unmodified graphene. Heat treatment after depositing the ink on the fabric improves the conductivity of the modified graphene. The adhesion of the modified graphene to the cotton fiber is similar to the way cotton holds colored dyes and allows the fabric to remain conductive after several washes.

Haydale Graphene Industries announced that Haydale Composite Solutions (HCS), its wholly owned subsidiary, has formally entered into a joint development agreement with Huntsman Advanced Materials. This agreement has resulted from the successful preliminary work jointly undertaken with Huntsman, to develop a range of graphene enhanced resins to complement its current product range.

The agreement provides Huntsman with the exclusive worldwide rights to market, distribute and sell a range of its resins enhanced with Haydale's functionalised graphene. This will include ARALDITE epoxy resins. The agreement will allow Huntsman to purchase Haydale's graphene enhanced masterbatches for use in the fields of composites and adhesives. Huntsman has also agreed to work exclusively with HCS to further develop graphene enhanced masterbatches with specific targeted performance characteristics.

Graphene Flagship partner IIT, in collaboration with Italian design company Momodesign, announced the development of a graphene-coated motorcycle helmet that reportedly allows better distribution of impact force. This makes the helmet less susceptible to damage compared to helmets without graphene, even in high temperatures. The result is described as a helmet that improves thermal comfort as well as safety.

In the new helmet, graphene is added into the outer shell as a coating, providing a protective effect to the inner materials of the helmet. This effect was described as a graphene "shelter": the excellent heat-conductive properties of graphene dissipate heat quickly across the helmet, and protect the inner materials from degradation caused by heat.

A few weeks ago we visited the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in Teddington, UK. We were given a tour of the facilities, the graphene labs and met with several key researchers and the business development team. The NPL is the UK's national measurement institute, and is a world-leading measurement standards institute - and certainly one of the leading institutes in the field of graphene metrology.

The NPL's facilities are very impressive, it's a beautiful campus set in the lovely town of Teddington - about half an hour by train from central London. The research facilities and laboratories were very well equipped and we pleasantly surprised to find out how nice and hospitable the researchers were. It was great to see so many graphene related activities at the NPL.