Rutgers University scientists have created a graphene-based sensor that could lead to earlier detection of asthma attacks and improve the management respiratory diseases, possibly preventing hospitalizations and deaths.

The Rutgers team aims for the sensor to pave the way for the development of devices - possibly resembling fitness trackers - which people could wear and then know when and at what dosage to take their medication.

Researchers from the University of Arkansas have tackled the issue of graphene oxide's flammability; The team explains that scaling up the production of graphene-based materials is often problematic and dangerous due to GO's tendency to become explosive once airborne, so solving this problem may prove important.

In their work, the team established a relatively simple method to cross-link GO with Al3+ cations, in one step, into a freestanding flexible membrane. This membrane resists in-air burning on an open flame, at which non-cross-linked GO was burnt out within ∼5 s. With the improved thermal and water stabilities, the cross-linked GO film can help advance high-temperature fuel cells, electronic packaging, etc.

Researchers at the Chinese Hubei University have designed a graphene aerogel film capable of producing water vapor at room temperature using only sunlight. The aerogel floats on the surface, where it heats up only a small part of the water column, ‘while the temperature of the bulk water is far below the boiling point’, the team explains.

This sunlight-harvesting graphene film could convert sea or wastewater into drinking water in places where fuel or access to electricity is limited. Desalinating seawater to make it drinkable usually means boiling it, and then collecting and condensing the steam. Heating water to its boiling point, however, requires quite a lot of energy, which is not always easy to come by. There are solar stills that desalinate water using only sunlight, but they’re slow and not always efficient enough to provide sufficient drinking water for a person’s daily needs.

Australia-based technology minerals company, Talga Resources, recently announced impressive initial concrete prototype strength results from trials undertaken at the commercial concrete/cement laboratory of Betotech Baustofflabor in Germany.

Graphene and graphite enhanced cement and concrete are key priority product targets for Talga. Concrete test prototypes were formulated with Talga graphene and graphite additives combined with a European industry cement and aggregate mixture. Results from the trial showed significant increases, about 26% in flexural strength and 14% in compressive strength, using Talga materials over reference concrete at 28 days cure time.

Researchers at Rice University have created a rechargeable Li-ion battery, based on a hybrid of graphene and carbon nanotubes, with three times the capacity of commercial lithium-ion batteries. This was achieved mainly by addressing a major challenge known as the dendrite problem.

The Rice battery stores lithium in a unique anode made of a seamless hybrid of graphene and carbon nanotubes. The material (first created at Rice in 2012) is basically a 3D carbon surface that provides abundant area for lithium to occupy. The anode itself is said to approach the theoretical maximum for storage of lithium metal with its 3,351 milliamp hours per gram capacity, while resisting the formation of damaging dendrites or "mossy" deposits.

Saint Jean Carbon announced that it intends to raise $2.5 million in two private placements. The company already closed the first tranche of the common unit offering with a gross proceeds of $327,500.

Saint Jean Carbon recently produced two samples of single layer graphene (1) dispersion 20 mL, 0.1%, with pure 100 mL water and (2) a 50 mg of powder. The company also created graphene that has a magnetic field (Magnetoresistance) and is also researching graphene-enhanced batteries.

Researchers from the Institute of low temperature and structure research in Wroclaw, Poland, developed a new efficient white light source that uses graphene foam excitated by a continuous-wave laser. The laser opens up a bandgap in graphene which results in light emission that ranges from 360nm (UV) or 405nm (visible) to 980nm-1064nm (near-infrared).

The researchers say that the light spectrum of this device is similar to the spectrum of the sun which is better than current light sources such as LEDs that offer light spectrum with strong peaks (the main problem is the strong blue light emission in LED lighting). This design can achieve a high efficiency (over 200 lm/W), high color rendering index (CRI > 99) and a broadband warm white color. The lifetime depends on the laser, which can be over 10,000 hours.

Researchers from Egypt and the United States have reportedly created ultrathin, biocompatible supercapacitors that can be used as efficient and long-lasting power sources for implantable devices such as pacemakers, brain stimulators and more.

The scientists made the supercapacitors using graphene, a muscle protein and biofluids as electrolytes. The team reports that such supercapacitors can power pacemakers for a long time by utilizing protein and biofluids available in the body, reducing the need to perform surgery to replace drained power sources.

Researchers from the University of Manchester recently demonstrated fully scalable prototypes of graphene membranes capable of producing heavy water. This new development could possibly lead to the reduction of CO₂ emissions associated with heavy water production by up to a million tonnes each year.

the Manchester team presented fully scalable prototype membranes and demonstrated isotope separation in pilot scale studies. They found that the high efficiency of the separation would allow for a significant reduction of the input amount of raw isotope mixtures that needs to be processed. This reduces both the capital costs and the energy requirements.

A collaborative project, supported by the UK’s Newton Fund and led by BIOVICI, will bring together the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), the University of Chongqing in China, Swansea University and industry partner CTN, to develop an innovative graphene-based sensor. The aim is to provide an easy, low-cost method of diagnosing hepatitis on the spot, and the graphene sensor is planned to be the first to simultaneously test for three types of hepatitis A, B and C.

The team explained that to date, graphene electrochemical biosensors exist for diagnosing one type of hepatitis. This project, however, will develop sensors for the detection of three hepatitis types at a time, by using three graphene sensors, each tailored to identify the antibodies associated with a certain strain of hepatitis, integrated in a single test. Unlike conventional blood tests, this sensor will provide a non-invasive, quick and less expensive screening method. The ease and speed of this method will reportedly be beneficial for bulk testing of the food, agriculture and education workforces in China, for whom tests are obligatory.