Billabong, global maker of surf & snow technical clothing and gear, recently announced its plans to be the first surf brand to go to market with a suit that utilizes graphene. The surfing apparel will be called Furnace Graphene, and is scheduled to appear in Billabong's 2019 fullsuit line.

Graphene-enhanced neoprene to be used in new surfing apparel

The Billabong Furnace Absolute is planned to sport graphene lining on the front and back panels, and be more flexible and easy to use. In addition, it will enjoy flex and thermal retention capabilities. The Company referred to this tech as "an innovative new design where graphene wrapped yarns trap and retain heat more efficiently".

Researchers at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) used the Comet supercomputer at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC), located at the University of California San Diego, to create detailed simulations of graphene-water interactions, to determine if graphene is a good candidate for delivering medicine to a specific part of the body.

A simulation done using SDSC’s Comet supercomputer shows a cross-sectional view of seven graphene flakes in a water droplet, and that the multi-layered graphene eventually merges together. Credit: Solanky et al.

While graphene has been extensively studied for many years in water-based solutions, especially in the biomedical sciences field, researchers say they still need to better predict the surface traits of such two-dimensional materials when exposed to water or liquids containing water.

XG Sciences (XGS) recently announced that it has entered into an Intellectual Property License, Joint Development and Commercialization Agreement with Niagara Bottling, a market leader in beverage packaging innovation and one of the largest beverage companies in the U.S.

The agreement provides XG Sciences with an exclusive license to Niagara’s patents and proprietary know-how related to the use of graphene nanoplatelets in PET in certain bottle applications. Under the agreement, Niagara will assist XGS with field engineering support to install products into the manufacturing lines for new customers greatly reducing the manufacturer’s time to market.

Researchers from Brown and Columbia Universities in the U.S have demonstrated that unknown states of matter arise from stacking two-dimensional layers of graphene together. These new states have been named the fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE), and are created through the complex interactions of electrons within and across graphene layers.

"In terms of materials engineering, this work shows that these layered systems could be viable in creating new types of electronic devices that take advantage of these new quantum Hall states," said Jia Li, assistant professor at Brown. Li added: "The findings show that stacking 2-D materials together in close proximity generates entirely new physics."

AIXTRON recently showcased two of its systems, which enable cost effective graphene production for a myriad of applications such as consumer electronics, sensors and photonic applications.

AIXTRON's new 'Neutron' roll to roll system for the production of graphene. Credit: AIXTRON

Graphene Flagship partner AIXTRON introduced results from two of its systems that enable the large-scale production of graphene through chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The Neutron is a roll-to-roll system capable of depositing large areas of graphene on metal foils under ambient conditions; and the CCS 2D system enables wafer-scale production of graphene on insulating wafers, a breakthrough that could speed up the development of new graphene electronics.

Researchers from KAUST show that microbes and nanomaterials like graphene can be used together to form a biohybrid material that performs well as an electrocatalyst. The team says that such materials could be used in the solar-powered production of carbon-free fuels and several other green-energy applications.

A process called the oxygen-evolution reaction (OER) is at the heart of many clean energy technologies. In the case of solar-fuel production, for example, the OER enables the use of solar electricity to split water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen, producing clean hydrogen that can be used as a fuel. Currently, rare and expensive metals are used as OER electrocatalysts. However, graphene-based biohybrid materials could make an inexpensive, eco-friendly alternative, as the team at KAUST has shown.

Researchers from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) and Valiev Institute of Physics and Technology in Russia have demonstrated resonant absorption of terahertz radiation in commercially available graphene. The team declared this to be an important step toward designing efficient terahertz detectors, which would enable faster internet and a safe replacement for X-ray body scans.

Graphene-based transistor with a metal grating. Credit: Courtesy of the researchers

THz radiation, also known as T-waves, is considered difficult to generate and detect. This gave rise to the notion of a terahertz gap, which roughly refers to the 0.1-10 THz frequency band in the electromagnetic spectrum. There are no efficient devices for generating and detecting radiation in this range. Nevertheless, T-waves are very important for humanity: They do not harm the body and so could replace X-rays in medical scans. Also, T-waves could make Wi-Fi much faster and open the door to astronomical research that is thus far untapped .

GrapheneCA recently announced the development of a novel Mobile Graphene Container System (MGCS), a scalable, modular graphene production system, to help companies manufacture graphene in-house.

The New York-based company, which develops graphene-based technology for industries, said MGCS is available in 40-foot containers that are designed specifically for industrial producers and high-tech applications.

Dotz Nano has shared a new research that finds its graphene quantum dots (GQDs) technology effective in treating brain injuries, strokes, multiple sclerosis and heart attacks. According to the company, the study demonstrated that these dots, manufactured from coal, can assist in fighting oxidative stress to assist in treating patients suffering from the serious conditions.

Led by the Company's scientific advisor, Professor James Tour, the study was conducted by five universities and research facilities including Rice University, with the findings covered by multiple medical publications.