February 2017

The Chinese Beijing Carbon Century Technology has stated that it has developed a graphene-based lithium-ion AA rechargeable battery and said it's ready to be mass produced.

Compared with ordinary AA dry batteries and rechargeable batteries, Carbon Century Technology’s graphene batteries can reportedly be used 30,000 times under temperatures between -45 degrees Celsius and 60 degrees Celsius.

Graphene 3D Lab, a leader in the development, manufacturing and marketing of proprietary composites and coatings based on graphene and other advanced materials, has announced an addition to its G6-Epoxy line of adhesives. This new product, G6E-GSTMepoxy, is a highly electrically conductive adhesive based on the combination of graphene and silver additives. It reportedly has a volume resistivity as low as 0.0001 Ω·cm and can be cured at room temperature or more rapidly at elevated temperatures. G6E-GSTM bonds well to a wide variety of substrates including metals, composites, ceramics, and glass.

The graphene filler is said to enhance the electrical conductivity of the epoxy and prevent the propagation of cracks, improving the material’s durability and fatigue resistance. This is especially important when bonding dissimilar materials subjected to rapid temperature variations. This feature improves impact resistance of the bond and also helps mitigate potential damage caused by vibration.

On May 10-11, IdTechEx will host its annual Graphene & 2D Materials Europe event, as part of its Printed Electronics Europe, that will focus on the commercialization of graphene and other 2D materials. The Graphene-Info team will visit this event, so if anyone wishes to schedule a meeting - now is a great time to do so!

The graphene & 2D materials event is co-located with eight other events focused on printed & flexible electronics, electric vehicles, energy harvesting, energy storage, internet of things, wearables and sensors.

Imagine Intelligent Materials, a developer of graphene applications company based in Australia, recently announced that it has raised $2 million AUD (around $1.5 USD) in private placement.

The new capital will be used to accelerate optimization of the Company’s pilot Plant-In-A-Box (PIAB) in Geelong to meet the anticipated demand for its initial product offering, imgne® X3, and to establish an Applications Development team at the Company’s Sydney office.

Researchers at Seoul National University, Graphene Square and Interojo have shown that graphene-coated contact lenses could protect eyes from electromagnetic radiation and dehydration and be used in various healthcare and wearable technologies.

The researchers began by synthesizing a graphene layer on a copper foil using CVD. They then transferred the carbon sheet onto the surface of a contact lens with the help of a polymer layer after etching the copper. "Thanks to its outstanding flexibility, graphene can be coated on the convex lens surface and conform to it," explains the team.

Researchers in India and Japan have developed an improved method for using graphene-based transistors to detect disease-causing genes.

The team improved sensors that can detect genes through DNA hybridization, which occurs when a 'probe DNA' combines with its complementary 'target DNA.' Electrical conduction changes in the transistor when hybridization occurs. The improvement was done by attaching the probe DNA to the transistor through a drying process. This eliminated the need for a costly and time-consuming addition of 'linker' nucleotide sequences, which have been commonly used to attach probes to transistors.

Researchers from Flinders University and First Graphite plan to use a machine called Vortex Fluidic Device (VFD) to produce high-quality graphene for industrial use. Based on previous graphite research involving the VFD, First Graphite plans to scale up the process to a commercial level with the potential of delivering high-value carbon materials to global markets.

The VFD was used to demonstrate unboiling an egg, and has also been used to slice carbon nanotubes accurately to an average length of 170 nanometres using only water, a solvent and a laser. It is now being tested to prove its potential as a commercially viable graphene producer.

A study at TIFR (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research) designed a system that allows electronic interactions to be observed in three layers of graphene. The study reveals a new kind of magnet and provides insight on how electronic devices using graphene could be made for fundamental studies as well as applications, shedding light on the magnetism of electrons in three layers of graphene at a low temperature of -272 Celsius that arises from the coordinated "whispers" between many electrons.

Metals have a large density of electrons, so being able to see the wave nature of electrons requires making metallic wires a few atoms wide. However, in graphene the density of electrons is much smaller and can be changed by making a transistor. As a result, the wave nature of electrons is easier to observe in graphene.

Clean TeQ Holdings, along with Monash University and Ionic Industries, received a grant of $632,285 AUD (almost $500,000 USD) from the Australian Government under the Cooperative Research Centre’s Project (CRC-P) program, to develop energy efficient wastewater treatment technology using graphene oxide technology. The new project is scheduled to commence in March 2017.

Researchers at Monash University have developed a method of producing graphene oxide which is suitable for the production of water and wastewater filtration products. Clean TeQ has already commercialized its Continuous Ionic Filtration (CIF®) technology which is used for water and wastewater filtration. The use of graphene oxide adsorbents in Clean TeQ ‘s process will allow the capture of non-ionic species and thereby extend the range of waters than can be successfully treated.

Researchers at the Cambridge Graphene Centre at the University of Cambridge, UK, have designed a method for producing high quality conductive graphene inks with high concentrations. Conductive inks are useful for a range of applications, including printed and flexible electronics, transistors, and more.

The method uses ultrahigh shear forces in a microfluidization process to exfoliate graphene flakes from graphite. The process is said to convert 100% of the starting graphite material into usable flakes for conductive inks, avoiding the need for centrifugation and reducing the time taken to produce a usable ink. The research also describes optimization of the inks for different printing applications, as well as giving detailed insights into the fluid dynamics of graphite exfoliation.