March 2024

Sparc Technologies and the South Australian Department for Infrastructure and Transport (DIT) have announced they will be trialing the Company’s ecosparc graphene enhanced coatings on steel infrastructure such as bridges and jetties in Australia. The parties have signed a trial agreement under which Sparc and the DIT will conduct collaborative field trials at the West Beach Bridge in Adelaide and the Streaky Bay Jetty on the Eyre Peninsula.

The DIT has approximately $45 billion in assets with the supply of the ecosparc enhanced expected imminently.

GrapheneUP®, an industry vanguard in manufacturing verified few-layer graphene and a diverse array of graphene-centric intermediary products, announces the debut of MASTERGUP® — an innovative line of thermoplastic masterbatches. This breakthrough harnesses the transformative potential of graphene, setting a new benchmark for sustainability and recyclability within multiple sectors.

Graphene, distinguished by its exceptional strength and conductivity, imparts enhanced thermoplastic properties, including mechanical robustness, thermal stability, and gas barrier properties. These advancements extend the lifespan of products and significantly reduce waste, thereby contributing to more excellent environmental stewardship. Moreover, incorporating the graphene GUP® into thermoplastic matrices elevates processability, streamlining the molding, reshaping, and recycling processes. GUP®-fortified thermoplastics demonstrate remarkable endurance through repeated recycling, mitigating material degradation — a commendable achievement in material sustainability.

Hong Kong-based Pacific Basin, one of the world's leading owners and operators of dry bulk ships, has decided to apply a graphene-based propeller coating, XGIT-PROP, across its entire fleet. 

The biocide-free hard foul release coating, developed by Canadian company GIT Coatings, has demonstrated the potential to enhance vessel performance by up to 4%, the two companies stated in a release citing data from earlier tests carried out by Stolt Tankers.

It was reported that an ambitious project between United Utilities and the University of Manchester to put green concrete to the test in the water sector has taken an important step forward. The University of Manchester’s Graphene Green Concrete is one of the partners taking part in the water company’s latest Innovation Lab – and now the first test pour of the material has taken place.

Graphene Green Concrete was developed by a team at the university as a sustainable alternative to standard concrete. Instead of using virgin aggregate material, the concrete uses 100% recycled aggregate combined with tiny amounts of graphene to reduce its overall carbon impact.

Directa Plus has entered a €1 million loan agreement with Nant Capital LLC. The funding will be used to complete the final payment for the acquisition of Setcar SA. Directa Plus previously agreed to buy a stake in Setcar, the group's environmental services subsidiary, for €1.5 million, which took Directa Plus' holding to just under 100%.

Nant is owned by Patrick Soon-Shiong, and together with Soon-Shiong it holds 28.73% of the share capital of Directa Plus.

Graphene Manufacturing Group (GMG) has been awarded a AU$2 million (over USD$1,300,000) grant by the Queensland Government to support the development of an automated battery pilot plant for the Company's graphene aluminium ion battery. 

The funding aims to bolster the local critical minerals and battery technology industries, contribute to economic growth, and is expected to create 12 new jobs. The grant represents half of the capital costs for the plant, which will be housed within GMG’s existing facility, contingent upon GMG’s final investment decision.

Today we published a new edition of our CVD Graphene Market Report, with all the latest information on this exciting material and market. The CVD graphene market is slowly emerging as applications and projects are increasing and the future looks bright for high-end graphene nanomaterials.

Reading this report, you'll learn all about:

• How does CVD graphene differ from other graphene types
• CVD graphene properties
• Possible applications for CVD graphene
• Available materials on the market

The report package also provides:

• A list of prominent CVD graphene research activities
• A list of all CVD graphene developers and their products
• Datasheets and brochures from over 10 different CVD graphene makers
• Free updates for a year

This CVD Graphene market report provides a great introduction to CVD graphene materials and applications, and covers everything you need to know about graphene produced by CVD. This is a great guide for anyone interested in applying CVD graphene in their products, or learning more about this promising new technology.

Directa Plus recently announced a new collaboration with Heathcoat Fabrics that aims "to drive groundbreaking advancements in technical textiles". Heathcoat Fabrics is a manufacturer of advanced knitted and woven fabrics located in Tiverton, England.

The company said: "Integrating Directa Plus' G+ Planar Thermal Circuit technology into Heathcoat fabrics portfolio is central to this collaboration. This union is optimized to provide excellent thermal dissipation properties, helping to control and regulate the user's body temperature...It also enables strong surface resistivity, making it suitable for various anti-static applications."

2D Fab has become a partner of the new consortium BioGlue-Centre, a collaborative initiative to make Sweden a front runner in the development of bio-based adhesives. 

BioGlue-Centre is a collaborative effort between three universities and 12 companies, including 2D Fab. With a shared focus on advancing adhesive technologies, the Centre addresses the critical need for sustainability by accelerating the development of bio-based alternatives within the adhesive industry.

Researchers at the University of Massachusetts and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have successfully built a tissue-like bioelectronic mesh system integrated with an array of graphene sensors that can simultaneously measure both the electrical signal and the physical movement of cells in lab-grown human cardiac tissue.

A bioelectronic mesh, studded with graphene sensors (red), can measure the electrical signal and movement of cardiac tissue (purple and green) at the same time. Image credit: UMass Amherst
 

The tissue-like mesh can grow along with the cardiac cells, allowing researchers to observe how the heart’s mechanical and electrical functions change during the developmental process. The new device can be extremely useful for those studying cardiac disease as well as those studying the potentially toxic side-effects of many common drug therapies.