Graphene Coating: introduction and market status - Page 24

Researchers from India's VIT University developed new a basic nanocomposite material for naval/marine application devices. This material is anti-corrosive and is a high-performance functional device, which the researchers say suits the requirements for applications for marine and naval conditions (humidity, temperature, etc).

The material is a graphene-oxide reinforced/conjugated polymer nanocomposite. A PEDO-block-PEG polymer was used as a host medium, with graphene-oxide as a modifier and PVDF as crosslinker. The researchers say this is a novel composite that exhibits high performance in structure, thermal, morphology and electrical properties.

A sixteen year-old boy from Lancaster, England developed a composite material that he created from a pencil and sunscreen lotion, that can break down pollutants when exposed to UV light. He suggests using it as a "self-cleaning" coating.

The boy (Samuel Burrow) did some experiments and entered into Google's Science Fair 2014 competition and was eventually chosen as one of the 18 finalists. The grand prize in this competition is a $50,000 scholarship, a trip to the Galapagos islands and more

Haydale signed a research and collaboration agreement with the Swansea University’s Welsh Centre for Printing and Coatings (WCPC). Haydale and the WCPC will further refine and develop Haydale's proprietary ink formulations to fully commercialize graphene based inks and coatings.

The first stage will focus on a number of specifically targeted inks and coatings. Haydale will supply ink formulationas to the WCPC, which will develop and refine them. The collaboration is also looking at the exploitation of functionalised graphene and other carbon nano-materials developed by Haydale in areas such as transparent conductive films, barrier coatings and 3D printing.

India's Tata Steel signed a strategic partnership with the UK's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to co-develop graphene-coated steel and other innovations.

The graphene coating may help the steel against corrosion, make it stronger and also enable a high degree of electrical conductivity.

UK-based TBA Electro Conductive Products will soon release a new sprayable transparent conductive coating based on a CNT and graphene platelets (GNP) hybrid material. TBA are targeting the food, electronics, pharmaceuticals and petrochemicals markets.

TBA says that the new ATEX-compliant product is available as a clear, anti-static aerosol, and it will also be available as bulk paint. Its application will safeguard electronic equipment used in explosive environments and bring it up to European standards. The product will cost around £20 to £30 per liter which will be enough to cover at least four square meters. The company says it will be very cheap - comparable clear conductive plastic sheeting that cover 2 square meters costs around £600.

Researchers from India's VIT University combined studied a new hybrid material made from PVC and graphene-oxide (GO). They say that the GO enhances the properties of PVC and makes it useful as battery electrode material, and also for membranes and coating applications.

The researchers combined polyvinyl chloride (PVC) with graphene oxide using the colloidal blending method. The new composites were studied using several methods (including AFM, SEM, TEM and more) and it was found that the GO have been dispersed homogeneously throughout the PVC matrix, and the original research paper includes many measurements and analysis data.

Researches from Vanderbilt University developed a new graphene-coated silicon based supercapacitor. This is an attractive design not just because of its excellent properties, but because it can be integrated into silicon chips.

Silicon isn't normally used for supercapacitors due to the extreme reactivity of silicon with electrolytes. But doped Silicon has very attractive features such as a low mass density, excellent conductivity, a controllably etched nanoporous structure. In addition silicon is abundant and used in many processes which makes it easier to integrate.

The National University of Singapore and Fuji Electric (Malaysia) launched a new research project to develop graphene-based magnetic hard disk media. This project will explore how graphene may be used to provide a protective layer to HDD media. This will enable the magnetic heads to approach closer to the hard disks which will in turn enable higher densities.

The Graphene Research Center at NUS will integrate the graphene unto conventional magnetic media, and then Fuji Electric will conduct necessary assessments to ensure the new product is suitable for commercialization, including corrosion, durability and capacity tests. NUS is the sole proprietor of this new technology.

Back in June 2013, Haydale (owned by ICL from May 2011) announced that it developed metal-free graphene-based inks. Haydale, established in 2003 with strong links with Swansea University, is developing and marketing carbon materials under the HDPlas brand. The company currently focuses on graphene, CNTs and zinc nanomaterials. Ray Gibbs, ICL's Commercial Directory was kind enough to update us on Haydale's new inks and more aspects of their business and technology.

Haydale developed their own Split-Plasma process to convert mined graphite ore into functionalised graphene flakes (nanoplatelets). This scalable and environmentally friendly method is claimed to be significantly quicker and substantially more cost efficient than other methods. Split-Plasma does not damage the materials and can be controlled to provide appropriate functionalisation levels that are not restricted to the chemical groups associated with other "wet" chemistry processing methods. One of its unique characteristics is that the process can (and has) been used to functionalise synthetically produced graphene materials.

Researchers from Rice University have discovered that hexagonal Boron Nitride (h-BN, which has a similar structure to graphene and is sometimes referred to as "white graphene") may be used as a very effective anti-rust metal coating that can prevent the metal from oxidizing at very high temperatures (up to 1,100 degrees Celsius). Even while layer of h-BN may be enough to be used as a protective coating.

The researchers made small sheets of h-BN on nickel foil using CVD. They say that the process should be scalable for industrial production. The researchers also tested growing h-BN on graphene, and transferring h-BN sheets to copper and steel.