December 2019

In April 2018, researchers at the India-based Uttarakhand Residential University, RI Instruments and Innovationin developed a graphene-based technology to prevent vehicles from operating if the driver is drunk. Now, the same team produced a prototype that will be based on graphene generated from waste products and wild grasses as one of the components.

Graphene has an important role in the device as graphene-coated electrodes can catalyze the process of oxidation of ethyl alcohol into acetic acid. The concentration of alcohol will automatically disconnect the device, the team explained. The driver, while at the driving seat, has to blow the graphene sensor on the device to start the vehicle. This will immediately activate the sensor that will analyze and estimate the liquor content present in the blood of the driver.

2019 will soon be over - and it was another good year for the graphene industry. We are seeing some slow but real progress as more and more graphene-based products reach the market and graphene starts to fulfill its promise and move from the lab to the market.

Here are the top 10 stories posted on Graphene-Info in 2019, ranked by popularity (i.e. how many people read the story):

1. Korean team designs graphene-based transparent flexible battery (May 13)
2. The Graphene Flagship announces its 2019-2030 graphene application roadmap (Apr 7)
3. Graphene may be the key to next-gen membranes that filter c02 (Jul 28)
4. Samsung rumored to launch phone with graphene battery next year (Aug 19)
5. Graphene-Info's top 10 graphene companies of 2018 (Jan 6)
6. A hands-on review of Wuxi Graphene Film's CVD graphene heating films (Mar 24)
7. Graphene-based wearable sensor monitors heart activity accurately and comfortably (Jun 23)
8. Newly launched graphene-enhanced sanitary napkins enjoy great success in the US (Sep 23)
9. Global Graphene Group launches a graphene-silicon Li-Ion battery anode material (May 14)
10. Novel graphene film offers new concept for solar energy (Mar 19)

Huawei France's Twitter account has put an end to the rumors predicting that the upcoming P40 Pro phone will sport a graphene battery.

An official statement said that this is just a rumor, and the that the graphene battery technology is still far from being ready for implementation.

Global Graphene Group (G³) and Alison Asia Pacific recently signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) for business over the next five years. Alison, a Hong Kong-based company, plans to purchase over 300 metric tons of graphene-enhanced silicon oxide anode material from G³.

Alison’s products are widely used in different industries such as energy, environmental protection, sewage treatment, and other fields. G³’s graphene-enhanced silicon oxide anode will support Alison’s rechargeable batteries. G³ will ramp up production of its silicon oxide anode to meet demand.

ZEN Graphene Solutions recently shared several updates. The first is that Zen has closed its recent private placement of flow-through common shares of the company and reports that it was oversubscribed. The company raised CAD$1.21 million (around USD$920,300) in respect of the offering, which will be used to finance the 2020 environmental baseline field program and community engagement work on the company's Albany graphite project.

In addition, the Company announced that it is moving forward with graphene production and anticipates that small-scale graphene related production will commence before the end of Q1 2020. The first batch of equipment for the purification small-scale pilot plant was already delivered. In the coming months, ZEN is aiming to setup small-scale graphite purification and graphene-related production facilities including Graphene Quantum Dots (GQDs) and Graphene Oxide (GO). These products will be available for research and development, application development and for commercial use.

Saint Jean Carbon has announced that it has been awarded two graphene-related projects from K-Technology USA.

The first project is the development of superconducting wire based on Saint Jean’s provisional patent application for the development of a diamagnetic superconducting wire. The project intends to develop the necessary engineering to make a prototype wire. The second project is to develop a waste energy capture system patented by K-Technology. The project entails the rewiring of the motors (4) on a drone with Saint Jean hyper-conducting wire and engineering an alternator re capture system to recharge the batteries.

Turkey-based Quantag Nanotechnologies was established in 2014 as a spin-off from a Turkey-based market-leading petroleum company to develop advanced tagging technologies. The company offers tagging solutions (which it calls Quantum Tagging Technology) based on quantum dots - and is offering complete systems based on its own tags (QDs) and sensors (readers).

Quantag has already deployed two commercial solutions for the brand protection market in, both in Turkey. One is used in fuel tagging and the other is used to tag paper towel rolls in automated dispensers so that they only work with certified (marked) brands.

The government of the Guangzhou province in China announced that it aims to help its local display industry and have allocated large funds - up to 2 billion RMB (around $285 million USD) in subsidies per company.

The government aims to establish production fabs of emerging displays - and specifically mentioned graphene-enhanced display technologies. Other technologies detailed in the announcement include OLEDs, Micro-LEDs, QD-LEDs, 3D displays and e-paper displays.

The Graphene Flagship recently launched an Airbus-Backed Project for graphene-based thermoelectric ice protection systems. Now, Versarien announced that it has been selected to participate in that project.

The Project, which is categorized by the Graphene Flagship as a Spearhead, large-scale commercialization project, aims to develop graphene-based thermoelectric ice protection systems and to advance the technology readiness level of graphene in these systems.

Talga Resources has announced the commencement of a new large-scale commercial trial of its Talcoat graphene additive for maritime coatings. At the core of the Talcoat product is Talga’s new patent pending graphene functionalization technology in the form of an on-site dispersible powder that adds graphene to paints and coatings.

Commencement of Talcoat-enhanced primer being applied to M/V Arica. Image by Talga Resources

Following the former trial, ans supported by the same ship owner, Talga has provided its graphene additive to enhance a primer coating successfully applied over a sizeable area of a second large container ship.