Imagine IM, developer of graphene-based smart materials, was one of the three companies that were awarded US$80,000 grants for research and development projects targeting safer and smarter Australian roads by Transurban (manager and developer of urban toll road networks in Australia and the U.S).

Imagine IM received the funds for a trial of a pressure sensor made from graphene that, when constructed into the motorway surface, would enable a ‘smarter’ road capable of reporting on traffic density, weight, volume and road surface condition.

UK-based graphene and CNT supercapacitor developer Zap&Go launched an equity crowdfunding campaign with an aim to raise £2 million. Note that this is an equity campaign - which means that participants will get shares in the company.

The minimum investment is £10,000. This investment opportunity is open to global investors, but UK investors will qualify for the tax breaks provided by the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS). Interested investors should be aware of the risks in investing in a start-up such as Zap&Go of course. For more information please check Zap&Go's campaign page.

Graphene has become a well-known material, and its remarkable properties are attracting many R&D efforts across all sorts of applications and industries. Graphene is the world's strongest, thinnest and most conductive material, with fascinating thermal properties. However, despite graphene's massive potential, bringing it out of the lab and into real-world products is not without its challenges, and there are quite a few things to be aware of when attempting to make such a move. This article will touch upon the major issues one should take into account when considering the use of graphene in any form of product. It is the result of repeated interactions with researchers and companies working on graphene applications.

The theory-lab-industry route, or unrealistic expectations

In theory, graphene is a material unlike any other, with properties that can fill the pages of science-fiction novels. The significant amount of lab work that has taken place in recent decades shows that graphene is truly amazing, and incredible things have been achieved using it. But one must remember that laboratory conditions allow for meticulous, time-consuming projects, use of best-quality materials and limited reproducibility.

A collaborative project between Oxford Instrument, the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) and the National Graphene Institute (NGI) at University of Manchester for a turnkey quantum Hall system for graphene characterization and primary resistance metrology has been successfully completed.

The project has been partially funded by the Innovate UK for development of commercial measurement system for nanotechnology applications, reducing operational costs, time and complexity. The quantum measurement system operates at cryogen free low magnetic fields and will enable primary resistance calibrations with unprecedented accuracies to be used by the national (metrology) laboratories and indusrial companies.

Researchers from Rice University have transformed wood into an electrical conductor by turning its surface into graphene. The team used its LIG technique to blacken a thin film pattern onto a block of pine.

Previous work with LIG included heating the surface of a sheet of polyimide, an inexpensive plastic, with a laser. Rather than a flat sheet of hexagonal carbon atoms, LIG is a foam of graphene sheets with one edge attached to the underlying surface and chemically active edges exposed to the air.

Tata Steel's first graphene-based product is in the market - the company has announced the launch of ready-made graphene-coated stirrups, named Tiscon Superlinks+. Tata Steel's vice-president (steel & marketing), said when four columns are built, the support link is normally supplied by a local mason, which is made of steel. "But, it usually rusts. We have changed that by coating it with graphene."

Superlink+ reportedly has enhanced corrosion resistance and better bonding strength than other stirrups in the market. Tata Steel has filed seven patent applications in this area of work.