Graphene Aerogel: Introduction and Market News - Page 3

The European GRAMOFON Project, coordinated by AIMPLAS Plastics Technology Center, has developed an innovative CO₂ capture process based on novel nanomaterials and microwave energy. The project results therefore contribute to Sustainable Development Goal 13 on Climate Action of the UN Global Compact through decarbonization with the major advantage of doing so at a lower cost than the technologies currently in use.

During the 42-month project, innovative materials and efficient systems for capturing CO₂ from post-combustion industrial emissions were developed. In particular, materials such as modified-graphene aerogels and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have shown very good CO₂ capture capacities and greater selectivity than traditional adsorbents.

Graphene Flagship partners Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, CIC EnergiGUNE and INCAR-CSIC, Spain, have produced rechargeable batteries and energy storage devices made of a non-toxic and environmentally friendly graphene-based material.

With current metal-ion batteries reaching their theoretical limitations in terms of cycle life, capacity and power, researchers focused on metal-air alternatives, such as sodium-air (Na-O₂) batteries.

Associate professor of engineering at Texas State University,Dr. Maggie Chen, has been researching and studying durable, flexible electronic circuits in hopes of creating new antennas for NASA space travel programs. Chen’s work is expected to eventually replace the common use of silver materials in antennas. Ideally, Chen’s 3D-printed antennas would use graphene.

With the antennas, our goal is to reduce the volume and weight of the antennas and to provide and implement a more efficient approach to the use of antennas in space, Chen said. The idea is we roll the antennas up, launch a satellite into space and pop them back out when in space so they can communicate with the stations on the ground.

Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have recently developed a promising breakthrough for lithium sulphur batteries, using a catholyte with a graphene sponge. Such batteries may offer a theoretical energy density more than five times that of lithium ion batteries.

Structure of the lithium sulfur battery

The researchers' approach relies on a porous, sponge-like aerogel, made of reduced graphene oxide, that acts as a free-standing electrode in the battery cell and allows for better and higher utilization of sulphur.

Graphene Composites, a UK-based company developing graphene-enhanced bulletproof shields, has exceeded its crowdfunding target. GC attempted to raise £300,000 on Crowdcube, but ended up raising £510,680 (around 676,625 USD).

Once Graphene Composites had hit its crowdfunding target, the company sent out a message to its supporters saying: Thank You - by investing in GC, you have not only invested in a company that should provide you with a healthy return and strong dividends, you are also enabling us to develop and deliver products that will truly improve the quality of life for many around the world. For example, our GC Shield active shooter protection in schools now, and eventually our Lightning Harvester renewable energy sources. Thank You, from all of us on the GC Team.

Australia-based advanced materials technology company, Talga Resources, has reported outstanding conductivity results from its Talphene-enhanced epoxy composite trials undertaken at TWI in the UK. Carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) panels were constructed using a dispersion of Talga graphene (Talphene) in the epoxy-based resin of the composite and subjected to a range of conductivity tests pertinent to aircraft applications.

CFRP test panels after lightning strike tests (Talphene panel on right in both photos). Image by Talga

Results reported by Talga showed the Talphene panel provided similar lightning strike protection as copper mesh panels currently used in composite aircraft but saved 75% of the weight of the copper. Further results demonstrating Talphene’s significant conductivity included up to 500% increase in dielectric constant, 100% increase in resin thermal conductivity as well as spot temperatures well over 100 degrees celsius in anti-icing trials.

Rice University scientists have developed a graphene-based epoxy for electronic applications. Epoxy combined with graphene foam invented in the Rice lab of Prof. James Tour) is reportedly substantially tougher than pure epoxy and far more conductive than other epoxy composites, while retaining the material's low density. It could improve upon epoxies in current use that weaken the material's structure with the addition of conductive fillers.

By itself, epoxy is an insulator, and is commonly used in coatings, adhesives, electronics, industrial tooling and structural composites. Metal or carbon fillers are often added for applications where conductivity is desired, like electromagnetic shielding. The trade-off, however, is that more filler brings better conductivity at the cost of weight and compressive strength, and the composite becomes harder to process. The Rice solution replaces metal or carbon powders with a 3D foam made of nanoscale sheets of graphene.

Researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California have developed a new fabrication technique to make capacitors enhanced with graphene. The resulting devices store a large amount of charge over a given surface area - an important metric for measuring the performance of a capacitor.

The new technique uses a 3D printer to construct a microscopic scaffold with porous graphene and then fills the structure with a kind of material called a pseudocapacitive gel, which is a kind of capacitor material that also behaves like a battery in some ways.

Researchers from Virginia Tech and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have developed a new way to 3D print with graphene. Graphene has previously been used in extrusion-based processes to print single sheets and basic structures at a resolution of around 100 microns, but this latest research shows it is also possible to use a stereolithography-based technique to print pretty much any desired structure down to 10 microns, close to the size of actual graphene sheets. The ability to 3D print functional parts in graphene could benefit many industries and products.

Now a designer can design three-dimensional topology comprised of interconnected graphene sheets, said Xiaoyu Rayne Zheng, assistant professor with the Department of Mechanical Engineering in the College of Engineering and director of the Advanced Manufacturing and Metamaterials Lab. This new design and manufacturing freedom will lead to optimization of strength, conductivity, mass transport, strength, and weight density that are not achievable in graphene aerogels.

A research team led by the National University of Singapore (NUS) and conducted in collaboration with Fudan University has developed an economical and industrially viable strategy to produce graphene. The new technique may offer a way for efficient large-scale production of graphene, to pave the way for sustainable synthesis of the material.

The conventional method of producing graphene utilizes sound energy or shearing forces to exfoliate graphene layers from graphite, and then dispersing the layers in large amounts of organic solvent. As insufficient solvent causes the graphene layers to reattach themselves back into graphite, yielding one kilogram of graphene currently requires at least one tonne of organic solvent, making the method costly and environmentally unfriendly.