Graphene batteries: Introduction and Market News - Page 36

Talga Resources has announced that commissioning of all stages of the Phase 2 German pilot test facility has been successfully completed.

In April 2016, Talga announced the commissioning of its Phase 2 processing plant in Germany and has now provided further updates. The pilot test plant is currently configured so that approximately 76% of the input graphitic carbon reports to graphene products (FLG and GNP) and the remaining carbon reports to Talga’s building sector (micrographite) products.

Lomiko Metals has announced that it will be presenting a summary of the Graphene Energy Storage Devices Corp. (GESD) Graphene Supercapacitor Project at the Battery Material Conference in Toronto September 2016.

GESD is currently working on scale-up of the technology and an in-field evaluation of the energy storage unit with Stony Brook University. The GESD-SBU team demonstrated design and implementation of a sealed high-voltage EDLCs energy storage unit. The unit is internally balanced, there is no need for an external circuit. The electrode is very cost-effective nano-carbon composite either of a commercial carbon or of graphene platelets with carbon nanotubes. The nano-carbon electrode materials were used for deposition and assembly of a working prototype of an internally balanced high-voltage energy storage unit. The bench-top prototype unit, tested up to 10 V, exhibited good discharge characteristics and charge retention. This development enables new compact energy storage solutions for grid and vehicular applications.

Talga Resources recently signed a collaboration agreement with JenaBatteries to jointly explore the use of Talga’s graphene products in flow batteries. Under the Agreement, Talga will formulate and supply graphene for testing in components producing JenaBatteries’ patented polymer flow battery, a type of redox flow battery suitable for commercial scale and grid applications.

Talga’s graphene will aim to reduce manufacturing costs and increase the performance and longevity of the flow battery components by utilizing graphene’s properties of conductivity, chemical inertness and impermeability.

Researchers at the German FAU have created defect-free graphene directly from graphite. Using the additive benzonitrile, the team designed a technique to produce defect-free graphene directly from a solution that enables selective electronic properties to be set through the various charge carriers and enables the production of efficient and cost-effective graphene.

The solution benzonitrile (grey circle) removes the causes of possible defects and turns red, resulting in defect-free graphene (red circle).

With the addition of a solvent called benzonitrile, defect-free graphene can be obtained without the formation of any additional functional groups. In addition, the benzonitrile molecule formed as a byproduct of the reaction remains red unless it comes into contact with water or oxygen. This color change helps to easily determine the number of charge carriers in the system with the help of absorption measurements. This could give battery and graphene researchers a new way to determine the charge state, as previously could only be done by measuring voltage.

Scientists from Swinburne University in Australia have reportedly developed a new supercapacitor made from 3D printed graphene which can hold a larger charge of energy, is recharged in a matter of seconds and will last a very long time.

The supercapacitor is said to be extremely efficient, as it charges in a matter of seconds and holds a larger charge because it consists of multiple sheets of graphene creating a very large surface area to store energy on. What’s more, charging and discharging won’t degrade the battery’s quality, so they can last a very long time. These remarkable supercapacitors were first presented at Fresh Science Victoria 2016 earlier this year.

The Sixth Element Materials Technology is a Chengzhou, China based company that develops and produces graphene and graphene oxide materials. The company recently opened a sales office in Europe, and appointed Bernhard Münzing as sales director.

Bernhard was kind enough to participate in an interview with graphene-info. Bernhard is an industrial engineer with a focus on chemistry, who has held different positions in sales, materials management, marketing and business development in big as well as medium sized chemical companies.

Q: We understand that The Sixth Element (T6E) currently produces graphene flakes and graphene oxide, in a 100 ton/year plant in Chengzhou. Is that correct? Can you tell us anything regarding the current production plant?

A graphene-enhanced mobile pack was reportedly developed by Chinese mobile network carrier China Telecom, and unveiled in a recent trade show in Guangzhou. The mobile power pack is said to allow for a 10 minute recharge time of mobile devices with a 6000mAh battery. The power pack's price and release date have not yet been announced.

China Telecom's graphene-based pack is said to have relatively lower energy density compared to existing regular power packs. It is also enclosed in aluminum panels to protect the graphene materials. It comes with a USB-A port and supports QC3.0 output (5V3A/9V2A/12V1.5A). The device also has a MircoUSB port offering power up to 5V2.4A. On the bottom of the device sits a DC power jack that supports high-power recharge with 9V-40V and 120W (12V10A).

G³ (Global Graphene Group), a holding company for subsidiaries Angstron Materials, Honeycomb Battery and Nanotek Instruments, announced that it has secured the first $10 million of a Preferred Series A investment from Western & Southern Financial Group, with conditions for a second close of an additional $13 million for a total $23 million Series A investment with Western & Southern as the sole investor.

G³ is engaged in commercializing graphene raw materials, and graphene-enabled applications including nanocomposites, thermal interface materials, and advanced batteries. G3 is headquartered in Dayton with operations in Asia.

Talga Resources has outlined its updated commercialization strategy. It is seeking to unlock early commercialization opportunities based on the production of four specific graphene products for use within targeted industrial markets. The development of these product lines is in addition to the supply of raw graphene and graphite materials which has been the Company’s focus to date.

The new strategy is reportedly a progression made possible by the growth of Talga’s pilot plant facility in Germany. Recent equipment scale up and a significant boost to the Company’s technical team enables this new ‘applied products’ capability and expedited path to associated sources of revenue.

Montreal-based graphene producer and developer Group NanoXplore recently announced some interesting and promising developments. We discuss the company's recent advances with the company's CEO and President, Dr. Soroush Nazarpour.

Hello Dr. Soroush. We know NanoXplore as a graphene producer but recently we hear that the company has been bringing graphene to the plastic industry. Why have you chosen to focus on this market?

NanoXplore is manufacturing graphene-enhanced polymers in response to the customer need for plastics with better electrical, thermal, and mechanical properties. Results from compounding NanoXplore’s graphene with Polyethylene, for example, have shown 10 orders of magnitude increase in electrical conductivity, 5 orders increase in thermal conductivity and a 30% increase in mechanical yield strength.