Scientists from IEMN-CNRS, Graphenea, and Nokia have demonstrated flexible graphene transistors with a record high cut-off frequency of 39 GHz. The graphene devices, made on flexible polymer substrates, are stable against bending and fatigue of repeated flexing.

The graphene field effect transistor (GFET) is made from high quality CVD grown graphene with a carrier mobility of ~2500 cm2 V-1 s-1 on a flexible Kapton substrate with a thin alumina dielectric spacer in the channel region. The use of such sophisticated and optimized materials leads to the record high frequency performance as well as stability against bending. The GFET reportedly continues to operate even after 1,000 bending cycles and can be flexed to a radius of 12 mm with a cutoff frequency shift of up to 10%.

As electronics keep shrinking in size, several problems arise. One of these is that the copper wires that connect transistors to form complex circuits need to be very thin, but carry so much current that can cause them to break apart due to atoms being knocked out of place. One way of solving this, studied by a group led by Stanford University, is to wrap copper with graphene. The group found that this can alleviate this major problem called electromigration.

This was presented at a recent IEEE meeting that addressed the coming problems for copper interconnects and debated ways of getting around them. Growing graphene around copper wires can help prevent electromigration, and also seems to bring down the resistance of the copper wires. Generally speaking, the narrower the wire, the higher its resistance. Interconnects have had to shrink while increasing the current densities by 20 times, said Intel Fellow Ruth Brain at the meeting.

Directa Plus has been allocated a €1 million grant from the European Regional Development Fund for a research project to develop graphene-based smart fabrics.

The project will be focused on enhancing the thermal and electrical performance of textiles for fashion applications. Directa Plus will act as project leader, and will work in collaboration with fabric store Novaresin and manufacturer Soliani, as well as the Politecnico of Milan university.

Grafoid has announced the development of the GPURE Membrane Platform, consisting initially of six next generation GPURE Graphene-Polymer membrane technologies intended for industrial markets.

GPURE Graphene-Polymer membranes include:

• GPURE (A) - A high performing, free-standing membrane developed for water desalination applications
• GPURE (B) - A stable, large area membrane developed for wastewater filtration suitable for very high temperature operating applications
• GPURE (C) - A large area free-standing membrane developed for water filtration pre-treatment and may be suitable for use in gas separation applications and may be used as a lightweight component for automotive and sports equipment applications
• GPURE (D) - A large area membrane that may be used for gas separation and sensing applications
• GPURE (E) - A large area membrane intended for use in gas separation applications
• GPURE (F) - May be applied as a graphene varnish for wood surfaces to protect against moisture, UV light and high temperatures

Gnanomat, the Spain-based developer and manufacturer of added value nanomaterials for a variety of applications, has announced the signing of a collaboration agreement with HydraRedox Iberia, a Spanish SME formed to develop, manufacture and commercialize large scale batteries based on a proprietary vanadium-redox technology.

Under this agreement, Gnanomat will develop, optimize and manufacture custom advanced materials that will be utilized in Hydra Redox Iberia’s vanadium redox batteries. During the collaboration, development teams from both companies will work together to design and develop advanced nanomaterials, including graphene-based ones.

Versarien, the advanced materials group that recently launched its new graphene brand called Nanene, has announced that it has signed heads of terms regarding a distribution agreement with Lansdowne Chemicals.

Lansdowne Chemicals, a member of the Overlack Group, is a chemical distribution, manufacturing and marketing company with two UK sites and operations in Europe, Asia and the USA. The agreement, which will be for an initial six months and thereafter terminable on three months notice, will help accelerate Versarien’s route to market for Nanene by enabling Lansdowne Chemicals to target customers which Versarien currently has no relationship with.

Researchers from the South China University of Technology, National Taiwan Normal University and the U.S-based Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a graphene-based anode material that enables sodium-ion batteries to perform at high capacity over hundreds of cycles.

The high-performance anode material was created by binding an antimony-based mineral onto sulfur-doped graphene sheets. Incorporating the anode into a sodium-ion battery allowed it to perform at 83% capacity over 900 cycles. The researchers say this is the best reported performance for a sodium-ion battery with an antimony-based anode material.

One of the surprises about to be unveiled at the 2017 Geneva Auto Show is rumored to be a Chinese project - an all-electric vehicle by Pininfarina, being completed for Hybrid Kinetic Group (HK Motors of Hong Kong). The H600 luxury sedan is said to be relying on graphene-based battery technology to deliver high and lasting power.

While technical specifications and range are not yet available, the graphene battery in the sedan expected to launch soon should have around 50-100 times the power density of comparable lithium-ion batteries and 5-10 times the energy density.

Researchers from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), in collaboration with the Georgia Institute of Technology, have recently demonstrated a simple, solution-based, method for surface doping of few-layer graphene (FLG) using novel dopants (metal-organic molecules) that show a minimal effect on the optical transmission as compared to other dopants like metal chlorides.

This work investigates the effect of dopant strength and dosage on the electronic and electrical transport properties of doped FLG. Moreover, It reveals fundamental differences between the doping results in single layer graphene and few-layer graphene. The study focused on few-layer CVD graphene, rather than single-layer CVD graphene, a somewhat less common area of research to date.

Researchers at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) have created graphene electrodes that function as effective biosensors, by using a laser inscribe patterns into a polymer sheet. The laser scribing technique locally heats parts of a flexible polyimide polymer to 2500 degrees Celsius or more to form carbonized patterns of patches on the surface that act as electrodes.

The black patches are about 33-micrometers thick, with a highly porous nature that allows molecules to permeate the material. Inside the patches, the graphene sheets have exposed edges that are effective at exchanging electrons with other molecules. "Graphene-based electrodes with more edge-plane sites are effectively better than those relying on carbon or carbon-oxygen sites in the plane of the material," said a member of the KAUST team.