Graphene applications: what is graphene used for?

Last updated on Thu 04/07/2024 - 07:52

Graphene is a one-atom-thick sheet of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb-like pattern. Graphene is considered to be the world's thinnest, strongest and most conductive material - of both electricity and heat. All of these properties are exciting researchers and businesses around the world - as graphene has the potential to revolutionize entire industries - in the fields of electricity, conductivity, energy generation, batteries, sensors and more.

Mechanical strength

Graphene is the world's strongest material, and can be used to enhance the strength of other materials. Dozens of researchers have demonstrated that adding even a trace amount of graphene to plastics, metals or other materials can make these materials much stronger - or lighter (as you can use a smaller amount of material to achieve the same strength).

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Such graphene-enhanced composite materials can find uses in aerospace, building materials, mobile devices, and many other applications.

Thermal applications

Graphene is the most heat conductive found to date. As graphene is also strong and light, it means that it is a great material for making heat-spreading solutions, such as heat sinks or heat dissipation films. This could be useful in both microelectronics (for example to make LED lighting more efficient and longer lasting) and also in larger applications - for example thermal foils for mobile devices. Huawei's latest smartphones, for example, have adopted graphene-based thermal films.

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Energy storage

Since graphene is the world's thinnest material, it also extremely high surface-area to volume ratio. This makes graphene a very promising material for use in batteries and supercapacitors. Graphene may enable batteries and supercapacitors (and even fuel-cells) that can store more energy - and charge faster, too.

Graphene battery advantages imageThe advantages of graphene batteries

Coatings ,sensors, electronics and more

Graphene has a lot of promise for additional applications: anti-corrosion coatings and paints, efficient and precise sensors, faster and efficient electronics, flexible displays, efficient solar panels, faster DNA sequencing, drug delivery, and more.

Graphene is such a great and basic building block that it seems that any industry can benefit from this new material. Time will tell where graphene will indeed make an impact - or whether other new materials will be more suitable.

Inkjet printed silver/graphene flexible composite electrodes enable high-performance supercapacitors

Researchers at the Technical University of Liberec (Czech Republic) and Lodz University of Technology (Poland) have developed a silver/graphene flexible composite electrode using inkjet printing technology for high-performance supercapacitors. 

The scientists chose rGO as the primary material for the electrode active layer. The rGO active layer was in-situ printed and reduced on the polypropylene non-woven fabric, and silver nanoparticles were simultaneously inserted and reduced to increase the interlayer spacing of the rGO active layer, which effectively reduced the self-stacking effect of rGO and improved the overall electrochemical performance. 

Read the full story Posted: Oct 31,2024

Novel graphene-based sensor system rapidly detects toxic gas

Researchers at the University of Virginia, Ajou University and Soongsil University have developed an AI-powered system that mimics the human sense of smell to detect and track toxic gases in real time. Using advanced artificial neural networks combined with a network of sensors, the system quickly identifies the source of harmful gases like nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) that poses severe respiratory health risks.

Schematic of biological and artificial olfactory receptor. Biological receptors interact with odor molecules through specific binding, whereas artificial receptors use catalytic dissociation by Pd nano-islands for selective gas molecule adsorption on graphene surfaces. Image credit: Science Advances

The artificial olfactory receptor features nano-islands of metal-based catalysts that cover a graphene surface on the heterostructure of an AlGaN/GaN two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) channel. Catalytically dissociated NO2 molecules bind to graphene, thereby modulating the conductivity of the 2DEG channel and allowing the system to detect gas leaks with extreme sensitivity.

Read the full story Posted: Oct 30,2024

CRX Coatings launches new graphene-enhanced coating for marine applications

CRX Coatings, a Tennessee-based company specializing in graphene-formulated coatings, has entered into the boating industry by launching its new X21 Foul Release Bottom Paint.

CRX Coatings has developed a non-ablative, copper free, biocide-free graphene formula specifically for marine applications. Their innovative approach reportedly ensures maximum performance and durability for boat owners.

Read the full story Posted: Oct 29,2024

Komaki launches electric scooter that is said to use graphene battery

It was reported that Indian electric vehicle brand Komaki has introduced the new model of Cat 3.0 NXT that comes with two battery variants, Graphene and LIPO4, and will be available for Rs. 1,19,999 (around USD$1400) and Rs. 1,49,999 (almost USD$1800). The unveiling of this EV is aimed at last-mile delivery operators, enabling sustainable all-day use and supporting SMEs and MSMEs in growing their businesses. 

The EV features app-based battery options, Graphene and LIPO4, giving a range of over 180 km to 200 km on a single charge, depending on the battery type. 

Read the full story Posted: Oct 28,2024

Researchers develop graphene-enhanced 3D-printed concrete

Researchers from the University of Virginia, Virginia Transportation Research Council and Turkey's Istanbul Technical University have developed a more sustainable, printable cementitious composite. This new material combines graphene with limestone and calcined clay cement (LC2), and is said to offer enhanced strength and durability while significantly reducing carbon emissions.

"Our goal was to design a printable concrete that performs better and is more eco-friendly," said Osman Ozbulut, a professor at UVA's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. "The addition of graphene to LC2 cement offers a unique opportunity to lower carbon emissions while maintaining the strength and flexibility required for 3D printed construction."

Read the full story Posted: Oct 26,2024

New graphene-based memristors could expand graphene’s role in the semiconductor industry

Researchers from Queen Mary University of London and Paragraf Limited have reported a 'significant step forward in the development of graphene-based memristors' for potential use in future computing systems and artificial intelligence (AI). 

This innovation, which has been achieved at wafer scale, begins to pave the way toward scalable production of graphene-based memristors, devices crucial for non-volatile memory and artificial neural networks (ANNs). Memristors are recognized as potential game-changers in computing, offering the ability to perform analogue computations, store data without power, and mimic the synaptic functions of the human brain. The integration of graphene can enhance these devices dramatically, but has been notoriously difficult to incorporate into electronics in a scalable way until recently. 

Read the full story Posted: Oct 25,2024

Researchers develop platform that integrates 2D polaritons with detection system for miniaturized spectrometers

Polaritons are coupled excitations of electromagnetic waves with either charged particles or vibrations in the atomic lattice of a given material. One of their most attractive properties is the capacity to confine light at the nanoscale, which is even more extreme in two-dimensional (2D) materials. 2D polaritons have been investigated by optical measurements using an external photodetector. However, their effective spectrally resolved electrical detection via far-field excitation remains unexplored. This hinders their exploitation in crucial applications such as sensing, hyperspectral imaging, and optical spectrometry, banking on their potential for integration with silicon technologies. 

Recently, researchers from Spain's ICFO, the University of Ioannina, Universidade do Minho, the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory, Kansas State University, the National Institute for Materials Science (Tsukba, Japan), POLIMA (University of Southern Denmark) and URCI (Institute of Materials Science and Computing, have reported on the electrical spectroscopy of polaritonic nanoresonators based on a high-quality 2D-material heterostructure, which serves at the same time as the photodetector and the polaritonic platform. Subsequently, the team electrically detected these mid-infrared resonators by near-field coupling to a graphene pn-junction. The nanoresonators simultaneously exhibited extreme lateral confinement and high-quality factors. 

Read the full story Posted: Oct 23,2024

Lyten plans $1B Lithium-Sulfur battery Gigafactory in Nevada

U.S-based Lyten announced plans to invest more than $1 billion to build the world’s first Lithium-Sulfur battery gigafactory. The facility will be located near Reno, Nevada, and will have the capability to produce up to 10 GWh of batteries annually at full scale. Phase 1 of the facility is scheduled to come online in 2027.

Lyten’s proprietary processes permanently sequester carbon from methane in the form of 3D Graphene and utilize the supermaterial to develop decarbonizing applications. Lyten has received more than $425 million in investment from companies including Stellantis, FedEx, Honeywell, Walbridge, the European Investment Fund, and the Luxembourg Future Fund.

Read the full story Posted: Oct 19,2024

Researchers design a graphene-based 'electronic tongue' that detects liquid differences, spoilage, and food safety with AI accuracy

Researchers from Penn State University and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center recently developed an 'electronic tongue' based on a graphene-based ion-sensitive field-effect transistor, capable of identifying differences in similar liquids, such as milk with varying water content; diverse products, including soda types and coffee blends; signs of spoilage in fruit juices; and instances of food safety concerns. The team also found that results were even more accurate when artificial intelligence (AI) used its own assessment parameters to interpret the data generated by the electronic tongue.

Graphene ISFET chip mounted on a printed circuit board (PCB). Image from: Nature

The sensor and AI can broadly detect and classify various substances while collectively assessing their respective quality, authenticity and freshness. This assessment has also provided the researchers with a view into how AI makes decisions, which could lead to better AI development and applications, they said.

Read the full story Posted: Oct 11,2024

Researchers design graphene-based RF NEMS switches with excellent performance

Researchers from the Taiyuan Institute of Technology have introduced a novel graphene RF NEMS capacitive switch and conducted an extensive analysis of its RF performance within the UWB frequency range of DC ~ 140 GHz. 

Schematic representation of the proposed graphene RF NEMS capacitive switch: (a) a 3D isometric view; (b) a top view. Image credit: Scientific Reports

The monolayer graphene RF NEMS switch is characterized by its low pull-in voltage, rapid switching time, and superior RF performance, contrasting with the comparatively inferior performance of multilayer graphene RF NEMS switches. 

Read the full story Posted: Oct 08,2024