China's Hybrid Kinetic Group, a producer of lithium-ion batteries and hybrid vehicles, announced its aim to build car assemblies in three to five locations across China, with an initial production capacity of 300,000 units within three years, eventually expanding the capacity to 1 million units. While not many details were given, it was said that some of the models are to be powered by a 30 kilowatt battery using graphene with a 60 kw micro turbine power generator that theoretically can extend the battery’s range to 1,000 kilometers on each charge.

The H600 prototype by HKG

HKG is using US technology, and has commissioned designs by the Mahindra Group’s design studio Pininfarina. The company stated that expansion of the production will depend on the market reactions. and that negotiations with car part makers are going on smoothly.

Researchers at MIT have developed a technique that uses graphene as a kind of copy machine, to transfer intricate crystalline patterns from an underlying semiconductor wafer to a top layer of identical material.

As a great deal of money is spent in the semiconductor industry on wafers that serve as the substrates for microelectronics components, which can be turned into transistors, light-emitting diodes etc., this method may help reduce the cost of wafer technology and enable devices made from more exotic, higher-performing semiconductor materials than conventional silicon.

A graphene industry innovation center was recently established in Beijing, China. The center aims to become a world-class graphene composite technology research and industrial incubator hub.

Beijing Graphene Industry Innovation Center will take the advantage of Beijing's innovative resources to research and develop cutting-edge new materials. It hopes to speed up the transformation of scientific research achievements and enhance the graphene industry.

Researchers at the University of Arkansas have demonstrated a simple and scalable method for turning graphene oxide into a non-flammable and paper-like graphene membrane that can be used in large-scale production. This tackles the issue of high flammability, which has, according to the team, been an obstacle to further development and commercialization.

Using metal ions with three or more positive charges, the researchers bonded graphene-oxide flakes into a transparent membrane. This new form of material is flexible, nontoxic and mechanically strong, in addition to being non-flammable. Further testing of the material suggested that crosslinking, or bonding, using transition metals and rare-earth metals, caused the graphene oxide to possess new semiconducting, magnetic and optical properties.

Global Graphene Group (G3), a holding company for subsidiaries like Angstron Materials, has signed Heads of Agreement with Lanka Graphite, a graphite exploration company. The joint venture entity (LGR 50%, G3 50%) will develop a range of commercial graphene projects.

G3 is reportedly scaling a broad range of commercial platforms of graphene applications in several , areas like energy storage, coatings, and thermal management. Lanka Graphite will supply vein graphite product into the joint venture in addition to assisting with sourcing investment, marketing and administration. G3 proposes to supply its experience in developing IP and research grants, commercialization planning and manufacturing infrastructure.

A new association focused on facilitating the commercialization of graphene in the United States was launched today. The new National Graphene Association (NGA) will aim to provide a networking and information platform to connect current and future stakeholders in the graphene field, drive innovation, and promote and expedite the commercialization of graphene products and technologies in the United States.

The association, which has offices in Oxford, Mississippi; Nashville, Tennessee and Washington, D. C., has developed a broad range of membership categories designed for entrepreneurs, emerging and established graphene companies, suppliers and developers, researchers, investors, venture capitalists and government agencies.

Researchers at Purdue University, the University of Michigan and Pennsylvania State University have combined graphene with a (comparatively much larger) silicon carbide substrate, creating graphene field-effect transistors which can be activated by light. This may lead to the development of highly sensitive graphene-based optical devices, an advance that could bring applications from imaging and displays to sensors and high-speed communications.

A typical problem of graphene-based photodetectors is that they have only a small area that is sensitive to light, limiting their performance. In typical graphene-based photodetectors demonstrated so far, the photoresponse only comes from specific locations near graphene over an area much smaller than the device size, the team said. However, for many optoelectronic device applications, it is desirable to obtain photoresponse and positional sensitivity over a much larger area. The researchers tackled exactly this in their new work.

The Ministry of Transport, national operator KTMB in Malaysia and China's CRRC Zhuzhou Locomotive have signed a €180 million contract for the supply of 22 electric multiple-units of two types.

The order includes 13 EMUs with a capacity of more than 500 passengers, with a maximum speed of 100 km/h. These are said to be equipped with CRRC's graphene-based supercapacitors. CRRC said the 60 kF capacity energy storage would enable 85% of the braking energy to be recovered for use when accelerating.

JTX (officially Shandong Prosperous Star Optoelectronics Co) demonstrated its graphene-enhanced LED lighting bulbs at the Hong Kong lighting fair. These LED lighting devices use graphene coating that aid in heat dissipation and thus contribute to longer lifetime and better efficiency.

JTX is a relatively new company (established in May 2014 in China) that is involved with the entire LED lighting value chain (from LED chips and filaments to complete light bulbs). In July 2016 JTX was merged with Graphene Lighting PLC that developed the graphene lighting technology in collaboration with Manchester University and the NGI.

Researchers at Iowa State University (ISU) are developing a graphene-based method to transform stem cells into Schwann-like cells (cells of great importance for various nerve regeneration efforts). If successful, this process has potential to replace the complicated and expensive process used today.

The team's method uses inkjet printers to print multi-layer graphene circuits and also uses lasers to treat and improve the surface structure and conductivity of those circuits. It turns out that mesenchymal stem cells adhere and grow well on the treated circuit’s rough 3D nanostructures. With the addition of small doses of electricity 100 millivolts for 10 minutes per day over 15 days the stem cells become Schwann-like cells.