Graphene applications: what is graphene used for? - Page 23

Innovative System Technology (ISTE), based in South-Korea, has signed an agreement with Levidian Nanosystems to develop plants for turquoise hydrogen, a byproduct of natural gas pyrolysis, and graphene.

ISTE will commercialize this technology by boosting its production capacity for turquoise hydrogen from several tens of kg per cycle to T-units. Entering the hydrogen sector in 2019, ISTE designs and builds hydrogen charging stations in various locations. ISTE is reportedly an innovative small and medium enterprise in semiconductor front-end processes and supplies equipment to Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.

Levidian and United Utilities will be working together to turn sewage biogas produced in Manchester into a sustainable feed source for graphene and hydrogen production.

The Government-funded collaboration is a first for the UK water industry and will see Levidian’s LOOP technology used to decarbonize biogas created within the wastewater treatment process. As well as producing hydrogen, the technology will also produce graphene.

Researchers from Ningbo University and Southeast University have designed a hybrid silicon-dielectric-graphene-grating structure, which can modulate the amplitude, wavelength and phase of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) simultaneously.

The SPPs are stimulated by the grating and propagating on the graphene, the Fermi level of the graphene is controlled by the voltage applied between silicon substrate and graphene. This structure has potential applications in fields like optical switches, communications and photo-detection.

Gerdau Graphene has announced that Packseven, one of Brazil’s largest flexible film makers, will be commercializing  what they define as 'the world's first graphene-enhanced stretch film'. It is expected to be made available for sale in Q3 2023.

The new ultra-thin film, developed using Gerdau Graphene’s specialized graphene additive technology, is said to be significantly thinner and more durable: initial testing revealed that the new films could pack 120% more material without breaking compared with comparable flexible films. More durable stretch films reduce consumption of the material per pallet and increase safety in packing and loading. 

Researchers from Qatar University (QU), Maimoona Mohamed and Nada Yahya Deyab, along with their supervisor Dr. Shabi Abbas Zaidi, have made progress in addressing the challenge of oil-water separation.

Their research focuses on developing a novel material for efficient oil recovery from oil-water mixtures. By modifying polyurethane (PU) sponges and cotton with reduced graphene oxide (rGO), they have achieved promising results in terms of hydrophobicity, oil-absorption efficacy, reusability, and cost-effectiveness, offering a promising solution to address the issue of water and soil pollution caused by oil spills.

Researchers from Portugal's Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores – Microsistemas e Nanotecnologias (INESC MN), Universidade de Lisboa and the UK's University of Exeter have developed an efficient flexible triboelectric textile by using printed graphene electrodes with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and the textile itself as the triboelectric pair.

To achieve this, the team used a textile planarization technique with a polyurethane adhesive, along with three different deposition methods: graphene droplet films (GDF), graphene immersion films (GIF), and graphene spray films (GSF). 

Haydale has reported the completion of stages one and two of a three-stage low-power hot water project in collaboration with Cadent Gas. Haydale said the project, first announced in February 2022, aimed to address the challenge of providing a low-power water heating solution during interruptions to the gas supply, particularly for vulnerable customers such as the elderly or disabled.

During stage one, Haydale said it identified four specific and detailed user case scenarios where their graphene ink-based heaters could be effectively used across Cadent's network. That initial stage helped lay the foundation for subsequent development work, with building on the findings - stage two of the project - focused on creating an operational pre-product prototype. The prototype showcased Haydale's functionalized graphene ink, which is printed onto flexible heater sheets which were then enclosed within an insulated 3D printed portable unit.

Archer Materials has reported the completion of a proof-of-concept biosensing graphene transistor for use in its biochip, and submitted the technology
design to a commercial foundry to verify scalability.

Archer’s optical lithography has electrodes, bond pads, and other graphene componentry, that allow the biochip’s sensor device design to scale more easily to produce complete wafers in collaboration with commercial foundries. The Archer-designed gFET sensing chips will be produced by a commercial foundry, with the aim of Archer validating its design to ensure appropriate scalability for the manufacturing process.

Researchers find a way to make the detection of antibiotic residues in water more quick and simple. The research team included scientists from the Czech Advanced Technology and Research Institute (CATRIN) at Palacký University and the Technical University of Ostrava. The new biosensor looks like a small box connected to a mobile phone. This device can immediately detect even very small antibiotic residues, namely ampicillin, in water or dairy products.

It is based on a tailor-made nanomaterial derived from fluorographene, developed by scientists from the Graphene Flagship Associated Member Czech Advanced Technology and Research Institute (CATRIN) of Palacký University and its Faculty of Science (Czech Republic). They used the so-called click chemistry method, which was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry last year.

Researchers from Japan's Kyushu University, Applied Nanolayers in the Netherlands and Germany's Technical University of Munich (TUM) have developed an eco-friendly light-emitting electrochemical cells using new molecules called dendrimers combined with biomass derived electrolytes and graphene-based electrodes.

Electroluminescence is the phenomenon where a material emits light in response to a passing electric current. Extensive resources go into research and development of various technologies that utilize this phenomenon. "One such example of an emerging technology is 'light-emitting electrochemical cells' or LECs," explains Associate Professor Ken Albrecht from Kyushu University's Institute for Materials Chemistry and Engineering and one of the leaders of the study. "They have been attracting attention because of their cost advantage over organic light emitting diodes, or OLEDs. Another reason for LECs popularity is their simplified structure."