Graphene applications: what is graphene used for? - Page 5

Today we have published the latest edition of our Graphene Construction Materials Market market report, a comprehensive guide to the world of graphene-enhanced construction materials. The edition, now updated to September 2024, includes over 10 updates, more than 5 new companies and more.

Reading this report, you'll learn all about:

• The advantages of using graphene in construction materials
• Companies involved in this industry
• Projects and trials underway today
• Research activities

The report package also provides:

• Datasheets and brochures from leading companies
• A look into how graphene can reduce carbon emissions
• A look into Chinese graphene construction materials projects
• Free updates for a year

This Graphene Construction Materials market report provides a great introduction to graphene materials used in the construction industry. It is a must-read guide for anyone interested in understanding the current market, mapping the companies involved and evaluating the future of the construction industry.

Xiaomi has released its new Xiaomi Mijia Graphene Skirting Board Heater 2, a graphene radiator that boasts a powerful heating system 2.200W and a foldable format. The Xiaomi Mijia Graphene Skirting Board Heater 2 features a graphene heating technology heater capable of providing heat in just 3 seconds and heating an entire room to the desired temperature in just 15 minutes.

In 2022, Xiaomi launched the Mijia Graphene Baseboard Heater (Fire Edition). The device uses two graphene-based heating elements, and has a simulated flame function that uses an integrated humidifier and LEDs to generate the flame appearance. This new launch seems to be the next generation in the same product line.

Haydale has announced that it has signed a contract with Jersey Energy Technologies ("JET"), a start-up company focused on providing energy efficiency solutions across the Channel Islands, to begin a pilot trial deploying Haydale's underfloor heaters within social housing in Jersey.

Haydale's underfloor heating system utilizes the Company's proprietary HDPlas functionalization technology to unlock the high-level thermal conductivity properties of graphene. Data gathered from Haydale's in-house prototype systems implies up to 30% lower operating cost for their functionalized graphene ink underfloor heating compared to standard wired systems running off mains power. In test conditions, the heaters, which can be uniformly and individually heated, have also shown improvements in flexibility, and durability; reaching maximum temperatures quickly. This presents a potential commercial solution to meet the demand for improved energy efficiency, reducing heating costs for residents without trade off.

Archer Materials has started experiments to detect and monitor chronic kidney disease on its Biochip graphene field effect transistor (“gFET”) sensors.

Archer, through one of its foundry partners, has reportedly verified a process that directly grows graphene surfaces to produce enhanced devices, rather than transferring the graphene to a device from a wafer, as previously done. The team has tested the devices by storing them in normal air conditions over a two-month period, finding no significant degradation in performance. 

Researchers at Swansea University, in collaboration with China's Wuhan University of Technology and Shenzhen University, have developed a technique for producing large-scale graphene current collectors that could significantly enhance the safety and performance of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs).

Their recent study details the first successful protocol for fabricating defect-free graphene foils on a commercial scale. These foils offer excellent thermal conductivity - nearly ten times higher than traditional copper and aluminium current collectors used in LIBs.

Danish Graphene has announced that its battery laboratory is now fully setup and operational. The Company sees this as a significant milestone, as it now has the capability to produce and test batteries containing graphene, entirely in-house. 

With this new battery laboratory, Danish Graphene can manage the whole process internally – from production of individual components to the final assembly of coin cell batteries. This allows the Company to maintain strict quality control and explore new technologies and materials.

Cerebral Energy has announced it has been selected by AFWERX (the innovation arm of the U.S Air Force, powered by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL)) for a Phase II STTR follow-on contract in the amount of $1.6 million to support further development of a new lithium-free secondary battery using recycled aluminum and graphene derived from recycled US waste streams. 

The technology was developed by Dr. Lynden Archer - Dean of the School of Engineering at Cornell University and licensed by Cerebral. The novel aluminum battery design is over 3X more efficient than lithium, and said to be much safer (no fire risk), 10X faster charging and has no supply chain challenges since the materials are derived from US waste streams. Known as "AGILE," the batteries will first support Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) medical modernization teams to address their pressing tactical power issues.

Hot-carrier transistors are a class of devices that leverage the excess kinetic energy of carriers. Unlike regular transistors, which rely on steady-state carrier transport, hot-carrier transistors modulate carriers to high-energy states, resulting in enhanced device speed and functionality. These characteristics are essential for applications that demand rapid switching and high-frequency operations, such as advanced telecommunications and cutting-edge computing technologies. However, their performance has been limited by how hot carriers have traditionally been generated.

A team of researchers, led by Prof. Liu Chi, Prof. Sun Dongming, and Prof. CHeng Huiming from the Institute of Metal Research (IMR) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has proposed a novel hot carrier generation mechanism called stimulated emission of heated carriers (SEHC). The team has also developed an innovative hot-emitter transistor (HOET), achieving an ultralow sub-threshold swing of less than 1 mV/dec and a peak-to-valley current ratio exceeding 100. The study provides a prototype of a low power, multifunctional device for the post-Moore era.

Pulsed laser micropropulsion (PLMP) offers a promising avenue for miniature spacecraft, yet conventional propellants face challenges in balancing efficiency and stability. Researchers from Wuhan University, Henan Academy of Sciences and Purdue University have proposed an optical-propulsion metastructure strategy using metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) to generate graphene-metal metastructures (GMM), which significantly enhances PLMP performance.

A) Illustration of PLMP mechanism and the possible applications of MOFs-derived GMM-based PLMP. B) Preparation schematic of GMM. Image from: Advanced Materials

MOFs, which consist of metal cations or clusters coordinated with organic ligands, can serve as ideal precursors for creating hybrid structures that combine the benefits of both carbon and metal components. By employing ultrafast laser interactions with MOFs, researchers have been able to synthesize GMMs with precisely controlled metal nanoparticle sizes, graphene layers, and inter-particle gaps, all in an ambient air environment. These GMMs exhibit remarkable properties, including high light absorption efficiency, enhanced energy transfer, and improved material stability.

Researchers from Tufts University recently developed a graphene-enhanced highly sensitive saliva-based cortisol sensor – eliminating the need for invasive blood tests.

The Point-of-Care (POC) electrochemical biosensor boasts a detection limit of 0.24 fg/mL, making it 100 times more sensitive than existing saliva tests. This innovation relies on the Gii-Sens “electrode” – a sensing strip produced by nanomaterial company, iGii – integrated into the sensor.