Graphene Coating: introduction and market status - Page 17

An international group of researchers, including scientists from Shinshu University in Japan and Penn State’s ATOMIC Center, created a graphene and graphene oxide-based coating for desalination membranes which are said to be more scalable and sturdier than current nanofiltration membrane technologies available.

The result of this creation would hopefully be a filter for clean water solutions, protein separation, wastewater treatment, as well as pharmaceutical and food industry applications. This membrane uses a simple spray-on technology to coat a mixture of graphene oxide and graphene in solution onto a backbone support membrane of polysulfone that is modified with polyvinyl alcohol. The team reports that even in the early stages of the development of the membrane, it can already reject 85% of salt, which is sufficient for agricultural purposes, and 96% of dye molecules.

Australia-based technology minerals company, Talga Resources, is actively developing graphene materials and graphene-based applications across many areas, including coatings, batteries, construction materials, composites and more.

Mark Thompson, Talga's managing director, was kind enough to update us on Talga's graphene program and answer a few questions we had.

Q: Thank you for this interview, Mark. Can you quickly update us on your graphite mine operation in Sweden?

Talga has over 20 years of graphite mining potential outlined in economic studies to date and currently extracts intermittently what it needs for scale up and testing purposes. Talga mined approximately 5,000 tonnes of graphite ore during 2015-16 trial mining operations. Further extraction is not required for now but permitting for the future larger scale operations is underway.

Imagine Intelligent Materials and Swinburne University have announced a collaborative six-month project aiming to develop graphene-reinforced smart composites. The composite will be able to report on the condition of large structures, and will have major commercial potential in the transport sector, including automotive and aerospace.

The project is supported by a $20,000 Seed grant from the university under a program, targeting interdisciplinary projects that are aligned with the Swinburne research institutes’ external partnership and collaboration objectives. It will combine expertise from experts in sensors, electronics engineering and aerospace manufacturing at the university.

A collaboration work by Purdue, the Chinese Lanzhou University and Harbin Institute of Technology, and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory has yielded a lightweight, flame-resistant and super-elastic composite shown to combine high strength with electrical conductivity and thermal insulation, suggesting potential applications from buildings to aerospace.

The composite material is made of interconnected cells of graphene sandwiched between ceramic layers. The graphene scaffold, referred to as an aerogel, is chemically bonded with ceramic layers using a process called atomic layer deposition. The team explained that graphene would ordinarily degrade when exposed to high temperature, but the ceramic imparts high heat tolerance and flame-resistance, properties that might be useful as a heat shield for aircraft. The light weight, high-strength and shock-absorbing properties could make the composite a good substrate material for flexible electronic devices. Because it has high electrical conductivity and yet is an excellent thermal insulator, it might be used as a flame-retardant, thermally insulating coating, as well as sensors and devices that convert heat into electricity, said associate professor in the School of Industrial Engineering at Purdue University.

Tata Steel's first graphene-based product is in the market - the company has announced the launch of ready-made graphene-coated stirrups, named Tiscon Superlinks+. Tata Steel's vice-president (steel & marketing), said when four columns are built, the support link is normally supplied by a local mason, which is made of steel. "But, it usually rusts. We have changed that by coating it with graphene."

Superlink+ reportedly has enhanced corrosion resistance and better bonding strength than other stirrups in the market. Tata Steel has filed seven patent applications in this area of work.

First Graphite, the Australia-based graphite miner and graphene producer, recently announced that it has become a Tier 1 partner to the Australian Research Council Research Hub for Graphene Enabled Industry Transformation (ARC Graphene Research Hub).

The ARC Graphene Research HUB aims to provide knowledge, innovative research and commercial development of graphene technologies across broad areas. Under the Terms of the ARC Hub agreement FGR will focus on the areas of fire retardants, where the Company already has global licence to exploit the technology, development of conductive graphene coatings and development of graphene polymer composites.

Applied Graphene Materials has partnered with HMG Paints to develop and commercialize graphene-containing coatings for a variety of industries. Following an initial stage of controlled environment testing, which reportedly produced positive results, the two companies are now testing their product in a real world environment.

Tests will focus on the application of graphene-based coatings in both the commercial Vehicle and construction Equipment markets in partnership with a leading UK commercial vehicle body builder.

Researchers from the University of Arkansas have tackled the issue of graphene oxide's flammability; The team explains that scaling up the production of graphene-based materials is often problematic and dangerous due to GO's tendency to become explosive once airborne, so solving this problem may prove important.

In their work, the team established a relatively simple method to cross-link GO with Al3+ cations, in one step, into a freestanding flexible membrane. This membrane resists in-air burning on an open flame, at which non-cross-linked GO was burnt out within ∼5 s. With the improved thermal and water stabilities, the cross-linked GO film can help advance high-temperature fuel cells, electronic packaging, etc.

IBM recently announced that its researchers have identified a new way to trigger the body's immune response by using polymer-coated graphene sheets.

In some medical treatments, it is crucial to target specific places in the body; To that end, scientists have developed techniques where drug molecules are attached directly to the surface of a nanomaterial, such as graphene sheets. Combining the nanomaterial and the drug molecules, these "nanotherapies" could help clinicians treat tumors, for example, by transporting the drugs directly to the tumors, where they can be released onto the cancer cells to help fight the disease.

The China-based Shandong Longju New Materials Technology announced that it has completed the installation and commissioning of a pilot biomass graphene production line and has put it into operation.

According to the reports, the facility uses corncob waste to make few-layer biomass graphene (citing Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences' test results). The production line’s annual capacity is said to be five tons and is expected to increase to 300 tons.