May 2020

UK-based start-up Payper Technologies is using graphene to provide the restaurant industry with a new pay-at-table technology.

Graphene antennas are printed on paper to enable customers to pay their bill by tapping their smartphone on the receipt. The process is said to take two clicks and under five seconds, without the need to download an app, by using existing Apple Pay or Google Pay.

Australia-based battery graphene anode producer Talga has entered an agreement with European lithium-ion battery giant Farasis Energy Europe (Farasis). Talga will supply coated anode products for evaluation in Farasis batteries.

Talga sources its graphene and graphite in the north of Sweden, from where the company produces coated ‘active’ anode products which it will now, according to their agreement, supply to Farasis.

The Graphene Flagship has announced 16 New FLAG-ERA projects, that cover a broad range of topics, from fundamental to applied research. These projects which will become Partnering Projects of the Graphene Flagship receiving around €11 million in funding overall.

Bringing together a diverse range of European knowledge and expertise, FLAG-ERA is an ERA-NET (European Research Area Network) initiative that aims to create synergies between new research projects and the Graphene Flagship and Human Brain Project.

Researchers from Seoul National University have examined graphene quantum dots' (GQDs') efficiency as anti-inflammatory therapy for colitis. The team speculated that graphene quantum dots may be suitable for treating intestinal bowel diseases (IBDs) because of their low toxicity in vivo and ease of clearance.

In their study, GQDs were intraperitoneally injected to dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)induced chronic and acute colitis model, and its efficacy has been confirmed. In particular, GQDs effectively prevented tissue degeneration and ameliorated intestinal inflammation.

First Graphene (FGR) has entered into a two-year supply agreement with planarTECH to supply materials for the manufacture of personal protective equipment (PPE).

The companies reported that requirements of an initial testing phase have been met and planarTECH will now incorporate First Graphene's materials into the manufacture of protective masks.

Researchers at the Graphene Integrated Functional Technologies (GIFT) Research Cluster at Queen’s University in Canada have developed a novel graphene-based flexible hybrid batterysupercapacitor device.

The device consists of high specific surface area electrodes paired with an electrolyte, which contains a redox species that can exist in more than two oxidation states. The two initially equal half-cells of the device consist of a reduced graphene oxide hydrogel which encapsulates vanadium ions, synthesized with a single-step method.

An international team of scientists, led by the Universities of Surrey and Sussex, has developed graphene-enhanced color-changing, flexible photonic crystals that could be used to develop sensors that warn when an earthquake might strike next.

Optical images and internal microstructure of colloidal crystals enhanced with graphene. Image from Advanced Functional Materials

The wearable, robust and low-cost sensors can respond sensitively to light, temperature, strain or other physical and chemical stimuli making them an extremely promising option for cost-effective smart visual sensing applications in a range of sectors including healthcare and food safety.

Los Angeles-based Nanotech Energy has announced the official close of its Series C round of funding. This round was expected to close at $25 million, yet included an option to allow for an additional $2.5 million for a total of $27.5 million invested.

This round of funding with such high-level and committed investors validates the need the international market has for our proprietary battery technology, said Dr. Jack Kavanaugh, chairman and CEO of Nanotech Energy Inc. We are confident that we have a one-of-a-kind, industry-changing product that will impact the technologies and bottom lines of multiple end-user markets. This round of funding allows us to dramatically expand our production of graphene batteries, as well as our production of conductive epoxies, conductive inks and electromagnetic interference shielding spray paints and films. This will also facilitate our efforts to further increase our large-scale manufacturing of high-quality graphene that we provide for use in downstream applications.

A state-run research body in South Korea opened the way for the mass-production of high-quality industrial graphene in powder form without treating graphite with a strong acid. A domestic company will seek commercial production within this year.

The Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT) said its research team has developed an electrochemical stripping process that can send electricity to graphite electrodes to peel graphene into very thin layers. The peeled graphene is extracted in powder form through a filter. The process can reportedly produce 60 grams of high-quality graphene per hour.

A research team, which includes researchers from Penn State, the University of Virginia and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, in collaboration with industry partners Solvay and Oshkosh, has found that adding small amounts of graphene to the production process of carbon fibers - which are typically expensive to make - both reduces the production cost and strengthens the fibers and so could one day lead to using these lightweight, high-strength materials to improve safety and reduce the cost of producing planes and cars.

For decades, carbon fibers have been a mainstay of airplane production. If created in the right way, these long strands of carbon-based atoms are lightweight, stiff and strong. "Even though carbon fibers have really nice features, they would make a car far more expensive" with the way carbon fibers are manufactured now, said Adri van Duin, professor of mechanical and chemical engineering, Penn State. "If you can get these properties easier to manufacture then you can make cars significantly lighter, lower the cost of them and make them safer."