A team of researchers has found a novel method for the construction of high-quality van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures, that are vital for many scientific studies and technological applications of layered materials. The work is a collaboration between the laboratory of Davood Shahrjerdi, a professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering and a faculty member of NYU WIRELESS; a group led by Javad Shabani at the Center for Quantum Phenomena, New York University; and Kenji Watanabe and Takashi Taniguchi of National Institute for Materials Science, Japan.

A crucial step for building vdW graphene heterostructures is the production of large monolayer graphene flakes on a substrate, a process called mechanical exfoliation. The process then involves transferring the graphene flakes onto a target location for the assembly of the vdW heterostructure. An optimal substrate would therefore make it possible to efficiently and consistently exfoliate large flakes of monolayer graphene and subsequently release them on-demand for constructing a vdW heterostructure.

Indian Institute of Technology Mandi research team, in collaboration with researchers from Yogi Vemana University, has designed a novel graphene-based photocatalyst that can remove pollutants from water while simultaneously generating hydrogen using sunlight.

In their work, the researchers have designed a series of novel and multifunctional nanocomposite photocatalysts by coupling mesocrystals of calcium titanate with edge sulfur atoms enriched molybdenum disulfide and reduced graphene oxide.

INBRAIN Neuroelectronics, a spin-off of the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2), the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST) and ICREA, has received €1 Million in funding from Sabadell Asabys and Alta Life Sciences, as well as ICF and Finaves, which will allow the company to speed up the development of novel graphene-based implants to optimize the treatment of brain disorders, such as Parkinson’s and epilepsy.

INBRAIN Neuroelectronics was established in 2019 with the mission of developing brain-implants based on graphene technology for application in patients with epilepsy, Parkinson’s, and other neuronal diseases. These smart devices, built around an innovative graphene electrode, will decode with high certainty neural signals from the brain and produce a therapeutic response adapted to the clinical condition of the specific patient.

A team of researchers at Princeton has looked for the origins of the unusual behavior known as magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene, and detected signatures of a cascade of energy transitions that could help explain how superconductivity arises in this material.

"This study shows that the electrons in magic-angle graphene are in a highly correlated state even before the material becomes superconducting, "said Ali Yazdani, Professor of Physics and the leader of the team that made the discovery. "The sudden shift of energies when we add or remove an electron in this experiment provides a direct measurement of the strength of the interaction between the electrons."

Archer Materials has reported that it is making progress with its graphene-based biosensor technology with recent work spanning technology development, commercialization and patent prosecution.

This work includes the development of portable hardware to interface with Archer’s biosensor technology with simplified sensor response.

ZEN Graphene Solutions has announced it will be launching a new research collaboration with Prof. Mohammad Arjmand and his team at the University of British Columbia (UBC)‐Okanagan Campus, with a $200,000 Department of National Defence (DND) Innovation for Defense Excellence and Security (IDEaS) award.

ZEN will be providing in-kind contributions of Albany Pure materials and consultation with its technical team.The goal of this collaborative research project is to develop electrically conductive, molded and 3D printed graphene/polymer nanocomposites as more versatile replacements for metallic electromagnetic shields that are currently in use.

Researchers at MIT have developed a new roll-to-roll production process for large sheets of high-quality graphene, which the team says could lead to ultra-lightweight, flexible solar cells, and to new classes of light-emitting devices and other thin-film electronics.

The new manufacturing process, which the team says should be relatively easy to scale up for industrial production, involves an intermediate buffer layer of material that is key to the technique’s success. The buffer allows the ultrathin graphene sheet, less than a nanometer (billionth of a meter) thick, to be easily lifted off from its substrate, allowing for rapid roll-to-roll manufacturing.

NanoGraf Technologies is a U.S-based battery material startup formerly known as SiNode Systems, established in 2012 to commercialize a novel graphene-enhanced silicon-based anode tech for lithium-ion batteries originally conceived at Northwestern University.

In light of the rising interest in graphene-enhanced batteries, and Nanograf's advances in this field, Graphene-Info was glad to exchange a few words with Dr. Francis Wang, Nanograf's CEO, to get a better image of the company's tech and future plans. Dr. Wang has accumulated over 20 years of experience in technology innovation and commercialization in the energy storage and clean energy spaces. Prior to NanoGraf Technologies, Wang was a founder and Director of Energy Storage Center at the National Institute of Clean Energy in Beijing, China. He has held positions in some of the world's largest battery, consumer products and energy companies, including Duracell, Procter & Gamble, Gillette, Boston Scientific and the Shenhua Group.

Researchers from the University of Houston and Texas A&M University have reported a structural supercapacitor electrode made from reduced graphene oxide and aramid nanofiber that is reportedly stronger and more versatile than conventional carbon-based electrodes.

The UH research team also demonstrated that modeling based on the material nanoarchitecture can provide a more accurate understanding of ion diffusion and related properties in the composite electrodes than the traditional modeling method, which is known as the porous media model.

Researchers at the University of Sussex have developed an ultra-sensitive graphene-enhanced sensor that can stretch up to 80 times higher strain than strain gauges currently on the market and shows resistance changes 100 times higher than the most sensitive materials in research development.

Stretching and twisting the ultra-sensitive strain sensors. Credit: University of Sussex

The research team believes the sensors could bring new levels of sensitivity to wearable tech measuring patients’ vital signs and to systems monitoring buildings and bridges’ structural integrity.