Graphene composites: introduction and market status - Page 12

Sweden-based 2D fab has collaborated with green-tech company EcoRub, to develop graphene-enhanced recycled rubber and polymer.

Through the collaboration between 2D fab and EcoRub, graphene will be used in recycled rubber materials to improve its properties, reportedly aiming to create new business opportunities and enable use in new products. In addition, the need for virgin fossil-based rubber should decrease as resources are utilized in a more sustainable way.

Graphene Composites (GC) has announced a research and development partnership with Advanced Blast & Ballistic Systems (ABBS), a leading developer of active systems for protecting armored vehicles from mine and IED blasts.

The partnership will focus on the use of GC’s nanomaterials engineering technologies particularly GC Shield® technology to improve blast and ballistic protection performance of its systems, with testing and FEA modelling which explores the use of graphene enhanced materials as a part of its continued development of the underbelly blast plate.

Researchers from Korea's University of Seoul, Russia's RUDN University and several India-based institutes have created a nano-filter for water purification from synthetic dyes. The graphene-based composite can reportedly remove up to 100% of harmful compounds from water, and it can be used up to seven times without losing efficiency. In addition, the synthesis of the nanofilter itself is economical and environmentally friendly.

Synthetic dyes are used in industrial chemistry and pharmaceuticals. They reach the wastewater together with other industrial waste and pollute the environment. Existing methods of water purification are not quite practical, as the proposed adsorbents are usually disposable and work slowly. Therefore, scientists continue to look for effective and eco-friendly solutions to this problem. The team in this recent work has proposed a reusable graphene-based nanocomposite that can quickly absorb dyes from water.

Researchers from The University of Manchester and Australia's Monash University have studied the effect of graphene functionalization on a vitrimer matrix (chemically crosslinked network able to undergo covalent bonds exchange reaction under a trigger). The chosen matrix was an epoxy vitrimer which, under heat, can exchange ester bonds, to be reprocessed, healed or relax stress while remaining covalently crosslinked. Existing work on vitrimer shows the aforementioned properties, so the team chose to focus on more unexploited properties of vitrimer for nanocomposites: their dissolution in an appropriate solvent to break the covalent bond under mild condition.

In the paper, the team shows that adding 4 kinds of graphene or functionalized graphene allows to tune some properties of the vitrimer matrix. After characterization, the epoxy is dissolved in ethylene glycol at 180C for 2h, the nanoparticles are subsequently separated and washed. The recovered nanoparticles are then free of any traces of epoxy, and intense characterization shows that despite some functionalization or unfunctionalization of graphene (depending of the initial graphene type used), the nanoparticles keep their core structure and could potentially be re-used in another matrix.

Spain-based Graphenano is studying the use of graphene nanotechnology in dentistry. At the 2021 International Dental Show in Cologne, Graphenano Dental exhibited its products, such as the G-CAM disc for CAD/CAM milling systems, which relies on this technology.

Unlike zirconia, for example, which is still widely used, our graphene nano-reinforced biopolymer G-CAM disc has excellent blending properties, explained Graphenano Dental General Manager Jesús Martínez. He went on to say that the appearance is extremely natural and resolves all the mechanical, physico-chemical and biological failures of the rest of the materials currently used in the industry.

Advanced Material Development (AMD) and Gurit recently announced the securement of £392,605 funding from the Defense and Security Accelerator (DASA), under a competition for wind farm mitigation for radar systems which is funded through the BEIS Net Zero Innovation Portfolio and delivered by MOD.

The DASA funding will enable the development and testing of AMD’s unique graphene-based technology, which when integrated into a turbine’s blade structure, will reduce a wind farm’s interference with radar systems. The nanotechnology aims to enable additional functionality to be incorporated into wind farm structures, including embedded sensors that can monitor the turbine’s structural health, with the aim of increasing the sustainability and longevity of the blades.

Tirupati Graphite has entered into a research collaboration agreement with Monash University in Australia to develop commercial applications for a range of graphene products in raw and recycled polymer nanocomposites and dispersions.

The 12-month agreement with the Department of Material Sciences and Engineering specifies that research will focus on enhancing thermal, electrical, and mechanical properties of various polymers and preparation of dispersions for developing a range of commercial products.

Specialists at The University of Manchester have teamed up with global architect firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) to research the design and manufacturing of space habitats for the space industry.

The view from inside the viewing deck aboard the Graphene Space Habitat. Credit: SOM and U of Manchester

The international collaboration has Dr. Vivek Koncherry and his team (supported by the Manchester-based Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre) creating a scaled prototype of a graphene-enhanced space habitat with pressurized vessels designed to function in a space environment.

Haydale has filed a joint patent with Airbus which covers the intellectual property jointly generated by Haydale and Airbus under the multi-party NATEP-supported Graphene Composites Evaluated in Lightning Strike Project, or GraCELS-2.

The group said that GraCELS-2 was designed to confirm that the 'incorporation of functionalized graphene/2D fillers could produce the next iteration of composite materials with significantly improved lightning strike performance compared to existing current carbon/epoxy systems alleviating the need for copper mesh'.

Indian scientists have developed a graphene oxide composite paper, loaded with preservatives, that can be used as wrappers to help extend the shelf-life of fruits, stated the Department of Science and Technology.

In the currently used technology, preservatives are adsorbed by the fruit, causing chronic toxicity. In the team's new paper, the wrapper releases the preservative only when needed. The wrapper can also be reused, which is not possible with the present technology.