Researchers at the University of Bristol are developing graphene-enabled ‘smart trousers’ with artificial ‘muscles’ which could help the elderly and disabled with their mobility.

The project, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), incorporates a number of technologies including smart electronics and graphene. Some items of clothing which make use of these, including a pair of ‘power trousers’, have already been demonstrated at the British Science Festival.

A new study by KGI, UC Berkeley and Nanomedical Diagnostics researchers illustrates the impact of a graphene-based biosensors in identifying the circulating biomarkers of aging.

As a way to replace conventional assays, the research team presented a new portable digital device for biosensing based on functionalized graphene that can be employed for any click-able application. The lab-on-a-chip technology called Click-A+Chip is designed for facile and rapid digital detection of azido-nor-leucine (ANL)-labeled proteomes present in minute amount of sample.

MIT and Graphenea have developed an array of graphene sensors for sensitive and selective detection of ammonia. The array consists of 160 graphene pixels, allowing large statistics that result in improved sensing performance. The sensors are extensively tested for various real-life operational conditions, which seems to be a step forward to practical use.

The sensors are built by attaching porphyrins, a class of organic molecules, to the graphene surface. Porphyrins are particularly well-matched to graphene sensors because they provide excellent sensitivity while producing minimal perturbation to graphene’s outstanding electrical properties. When ammonia molecules attach to porphyrins, the compound becomes a strong dipole that changes electrical properties of the graphene. This electrical change is detected as a sign of the presence of ammonia.

Haydale has been jointly awarded a contract by the English Institute for Sport (‘EIS’) for the development of advanced wearable technology for elite athletes in training for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The EIS will use Haydale and its long-term partner the Welsh Centre for Printing and Coating at Swansea University to incorporate graphene coatings into a range of clothing for elite performers.

Grafoid has announced a strategic partnership with Liquinex, a company specializing in waste water engineering needs, to provide commercial scale water treatment solutions using Grafoid’s MESOGRAF graphene-based filtration technology.

The graphene-based filtration products are said to be readily scalable to meet the rising commercial demands making them ideal for industrial level, niche applications such as the concentration of beverages, treatment of crude oil/water mixtures, biofuel and industrial wastewater treatments where reverse osmosis (RO) is not suitable due to the fouling tendencies when concentrated liquids are purged through RO cartridges.

UK-based Haydale reported its preliminary financial and business results for FY2018 (which ended on June 2018). Total revenues in 2018 reached £4.23 million (up from £3.91 in 2017), which included £3.4 million in commercial revenues and £0.83 million in grant income.

The net loss before tax in 2018 was £6.12 million (up from a £5.64 million loss in 2017). At the end of the year, Haydale had £5.09 million in cash and equivalents. Haydale says it enters FY2019 with cautious optimism. Two encouraging sings are a recently signed five-year SiC contact extension, and steadily increasing graphene ink sales to several print houses for the bio-medical sensor market.

Earlier in 2018 Applied Graphene Materials (AGM) launched their Genable 3000 dispersion range - graphene based, active non-metallic, anti-corrosion additives. AGM has now reported results from further testing, which not only underlines the potential for significant anti-corrosion performance gains but also the products commercial attractiveness particularly under harsher C4/C5 corrosive environments.

Incorporated into the formulation of an industry standard C3 epoxy primer system, and tested under representative cyclical salt spray testing (ASTM G-85-94 Prohesion), Genable 3000 series materials have been shown to deliver a 5-fold extension in coating lifetime, based on a single 60 micron dry film thickness. These results are supported by a detailed mechanical dataset and studies incorporating combination with a PU topcoat exploring intercoat adhesion and overcoating intervals. All results confirm the products attractiveness for development into commercial anti-corrosion systems.

Gilding is the process of coating intricate artifacts with precious metals. Ancient Egyptians and Chinese coated their sculptures with thin metal films using gilding—and these golden sculptures have resisted corrosion, wear, and environmental degradation for thousands of years.

Microscope image of a graphene crystal on a palladium leaf

In a new study at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Sameh Tawfick was inspired by this ancient process and used it with a twist - he added a layer of graphene on top of palladium metal leaves—doubling the protective quality of gilding against wear and tear.

First Graphene has announces the release of its PureGRAP graphene products. Over the last five months FGR’s management has worked with various universities and on its own production processes to ensure it could consistently produce a suitable range of products.

The initial product includes PureGRAPH graphene products with lateral sizes of 20µm, 10µm and 5µm. Further size options are planned to be added later. FGR says that due to its unique process it is able to produce graphene with larger lateral sheet sizes if a customer should have a particular application.

In 2016, Briggs Automotive Company (BAC) developed a vehicle made with graphene in its bodywork. Now, BAC received funding to undertake graphene research, with a view to pushing the technology towards production-readiness for the automotive industry.

The road-legal, single-seater supercar the BAC Mono received the Niche Vehicle Network (NVN) grant alongside Haydale Composite Solutions and Pentaxia Composites and will further explore the benefits of using graphene in composite body panels.