Applied Graphene Materials (AGM) has announced that Stanvac-Superon Group, an India-based manufacturer of industrial repair and maintenance solutions, has launched a conductive coating incorporating AGM’s Genable graphene dispersions, for use on industrial power transmission equipment.

Following successful development and testing, the new protective, conductive coating incorporating AGM’s A-GNP35 graphene dispersions will reduce contact resistance in coated copper and aluminium electrical cable joints to reduce the power lost over the connection.

Enhancing the performance of batteries is one of the main challenges as we aim to increase EV range, reduce our dependence on oil and increase mobility. Graphene has been considered a leading material that could improve the capacity, charge time, safety and other aspects of different battery technologies. The following article is an excerpt from our Graphene Batteries Market Report, that details the graphene battery developments being carried out at Sweden-based 2D Fab.

Graphene powder, 2D Fab

2D Fab was established in 2013 as a spin-off from Mid Sweden University in Sweden. The company produces graphene flakes using graphite from the Swedish Woxna Graphite (owned by the Canadian company Flinders Resources). 2D Fab received venture funding from Miun Venture in 2015.

In June 2020, Sweden-based 2D fab closed a new share issue of approximately €700,000. The company stated that this capital will primarily be used for developing the organization and for commercializing the Company's graphene products. The share issue was directed to a limited number of investors, having received the offer either via the company's executive management or via G&W Fondkommission. Through this transaction 2D fab received eleven new owners, among them Malmö based Polynom Investment.

Researchers from MIT created a new 2D material, called 2DPA-1, which is the world's first 2D polymer. Until now, it was actually believed to be impossible to induce polymers into a 2D sheet.

To create the material, the researchers used a novel polymerization process, that was used to generate a two-dimensional sheet called a polyaramide. For the monomer building blocks of the material, they use a compound called melamine, which contains a ring of carbon and nitrogen atoms. Under the right conditions, these monomers can grow in two dimensions, forming disks. These disks stack on top of each other, held together by hydrogen bonds between the layers, which make the structure very stable and strong.

A research group from Sweden's Chalmers University of Technology and the Technical University of Denmark has shown that graphene can rapidly distinguish between types of bacteria. The team therefore set out to create extremely sensitive sensors, that can generate rapid signals upon bacterial colonization.​

The team developed a simple prototype sensor based on pristine, non-functionalized graphene. The detection principle is a change in electrical resistance of graphene upon exposure to bacterial cells. Without functionalization with specific receptors, such sensors cannot be expected to be selective to certain bacteria. However, the researchers demonstrated that two different bacterial species can be detected and differentiated by the new sensor due to their different growth dynamics, adherence pattern, density of adhered bacteria and microcolonies formation.

UK-based AEH Innovative Hydrogel Limited announced that the company received a £3.5 million investment from agri-tech leader Terra Sana Holdings.

AEH, established in 2018 and located at Manchester University's GEIC center, develops food-based fully recyclable hydroponic gel, based on a graphene material technology, which is designed to reduce food production costs, improve quality and lower environmental impact.

Researchers at the University of Bath, in collaboration with industrial partner Integrated Graphene, have developed a sensing technique based on graphene foam, for the detection of glucose levels in the blood.

The newly developed sensor is a chemical one instead of enzyme-based, which makes the technology robust, with a long shelf-life and more sensitive to lower glucose concentrations compared to current systems.

UK-based graphene developer Paragraf has raised $60 million from the UK's Future Fund, the CIA-backed In-Q-Tel and other investors. The funds will be used to accelerate the company's device development, production and market launch.

Paragraf produces its own CVD graphene materials, which it then uses to create devices for the sensor, energy and semiconductor markets. The company introduced its first product, a graphene-based hall-effect sensor back in 2020, and it has recently concluded a study to test the deployment of graphene as an OLED electrode material.

Scientists at Rice University are using machine-learning techniques to fine-tune the process of synthesizing graphene from waste through flash Joule heating. The researchers describe in their new work how machine-learning models that adapt to variables and show them how to optimize procedures are helping them push the technique forward.

Machine learning is fine-tuning Rice University’s flash Joule heating method for making graphene from a variety of carbon sources, including waste materials. Credit: Jacob Beckham, from: Phys.org

The process, discovered by the Rice lab of chemist James Tour, has expanded beyond making graphene from various carbon sources to extracting other materials like metals from urban waste, with the promise of more environmentally friendly recycling to come. The technique is the same: blasting a jolt of high energy through the source material to eliminate all but the desired product. However, the details for flashing each feedstock are different.

Poland-based nanoEMI announced that it has raised around 250,000 Euro in its seed round, from GT Technologies, a Poland-based VC. The company says that the funds will help it scale up its production capabilities for graphene and composite materials.

nanoEMI focuses on EMI shielding applications, and produces its own graphene using two different methods (exfoliation in isopropyl alcohol and in castor oil), at its own pilot production line.