Graphene Coating: introduction and market status - Page 13

Researchers from Northwestern have developed graphene-enhanced self-healing coatings on metal surface based on oil. Jiaxing Huang, professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Northwestern, explains: the unusual part is that the oil coating does not drip, sticks very well, and at the same time can rapidly heal when scratched. Such coatings can protect metal surface from highly corrosive environments.

The self-healing material was achieved by modifying an oil with lightweight hollow particles in the form of tiny graphene capsules, measuring just tens of microns in size. These capsules form a network in the oil, preventing the oil film from shrinking or dripping. However, they still allow oils to flow when a scratch breaks the network, thereby healing the damaged area. In a proof of concept demo, the researchers showed that the material is able to heal repeatedly. Even after being scratched in the exact spot for nearly 200 times in a row, it was still able to return to its former un-visibly damaged state within seconds.

University of Manchester researcher, Dr Thomas Waigh, has developed a technology that may make living cells and tissues more visible during analysis through the addition of graphene oxide (GO). The use of a GO GO coating to microscopy slides was found to improve both fluorescence imaging contrast and resolution.

Dr Waigh said: My team has developed technology which uses monomolecular sheets of GO to coat microscopy slides, thereby eliminating background fluorescence and improving the resolution of images. "It’s an important breakthrough as GO is cheap and easy to manufacture in large quantities. The cost to coat each slide is estimated to be 12 pence".

Graphenest has launched two products, based on a proprietary graphene production method, now available to pre-order with a campaign price for a limited time.

The first product is HexaShield, a graphene-based paintable coating for RF electromagnetic interference (EMI) and radiation shielding. It reportedly provides drastic weight reduction, and reduced manufacturing cost as compared to metals, while achieving the required protection for the Gigahertz frequency range.

Applied Graphene Materials has a longstanding collaboration with James Briggs, one of Europe’s largest consumer chemicals companies, to develop graphene-based anti-corrosive coatings. Now, an announcement has come out regarding the fruit of this collaboration - a range of graphene-enhanced anti-corrosive vehicle paint primer is set to launch in the next few months.

James Briggs (JBL) has reportedly prepared its first commercial batch in preparation for full product launch. "JBL has successfully completed its first production batch which is a significant milestone for commercial realization".

Versarien has announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding ("MOU") with China Tiesiju Civil Engineering Group Co Ltd. ("CTCE"), a subsidiary of China Railway Group Limited ("CRG").

CRG is one of the world's largest construction and engineering contractors and is listed on the Shanghai and Hong Kong Stock Exchanges. CTCE is specifically focused on railway, bridge, tunnel and highway infrastructure engineering. It is active in China and overseas, including in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East.

water technology company G2O recently announced a £1.035 million investment in a round led by private equity firm Maven Capital Partners, and plans to sign collaborative partnerships with suppliers and enter global markets to expand customer reach.

Maven Capital Partners, one of the UK’s most active private equity firms, has led a £1.035 million investment in Manchester-headquartered water treatment technology business. A total of £600,000 has been provided by Maven funds, which includes a £400,000 investment from NPIF Maven Equity Finance, which is part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund and a £200,000 investment from the Finance Durham Fund, both managed by Maven. The additional £435,000 is from a number of private individual investors.

Scientists from The University of Manchester have combined graphene with the natural fiber jute, to create graphene-strengthened natural jute fiber composites. The team explains that this could lead to the manufacturing of high-performance and environmentally friendly natural fiber composites that could replace their synthetic counterparts in major manufacturing areas, like the automotive industry, ship building, durable wind turbine blades and more.

It could also boost the farming economies of countries such as Bangladesh, India, and China where the jute material is mainly produced the researchers from The University of Manchester claim. Jute is extracted from the bark of the white jute plant (Corchorus capsularis) and is a 100% bio-degradable, recyclable and environmentally friendly natural fiber. It is also the second most produced natural fiber in the world after cotton and is at least 50% cheaper than flax and other similar natural fibers.

Researchers at Brown University, the University of Wisconsin and the National University of Singapore have developed a way of reinforcing hydrogel materials made from alginate, a natural material derived from seaweeds that’s currently used in a variety of biomedical applications, by incorporating graphene oxide into its structure.

This produces a material that can be 3D printed into structures that are stiffer and more fracture resistant than alginate alone - an important achievement as alginate tends to be fragile and thus hard to work with. Furthermore, the material is also capable of becoming stiffer or softer in response to different chemical treatments, meaning it could be used to make smart materials that are able to react to their surroundings in real time. In addition, alginate-GO retains alginate’s ability to repel oils, giving the new material potential as an anti-fouling coating.

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.

Sweden-based Applied Nano Surfaces (ANS) launched a new product, Tricolit GO, one of the first graphene-enhanced low-friction coatings on the market today. Tricolit is available now from ANS, in easy-to-apply spray cans or in bulk. The product can be used to reduce friction and wear. ANS claims that the use of graphene allows a tenfold increase in the coating’s mechanical strength and abrasion-resistance.


We have talked to ANS CTO, Boris Zhmud, and he revealed that ANS uses graphene dispersions from UK-based Applied Graphene Materials. Tricolit GO is still considered an "experimental" product. The development was financed by Sweden's SIO-Grafen.