Graphene Oxide: Introduction and Market News - Page 17

Researchers from the Russia-based Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology ('MIPT') have developed biosensor chips of unprecedented sensitivity, which are based on copper combined with graphene oxide instead of the conventionally used gold. In addition to making the device somewhat cheaper, this innovation will facilitate the manufacturing process.

The Russian research team's biosensing chip reportedly achieved unmatched sensitivity, and yet its configuration is mostly standard and therefore compatible with existing commercial biosensors, e.g. Biacore, Reichert, BioNavis, or BiOptix.

Researchers from the Institute of Advanced Study in Science and Technology (IASST) in India have developed a smart bandage material based on graphene oxide that can heal wounds better and faster and has antimicrobial properties.

The bandage is made of cotton patch coated with chitosan-based hydogel that is loaded with curcumin and graphene oxide. The researchers used curcumin as a model drug but said it can be replaced with other antimicrobials.

Today we published new versions of all our graphene market reports. Graphene-Info provides comprehensive niche graphene market reports, and our reports cover everything you need to know about these niche markets. The reports are now updated to April 2018.

The Graphene Batteries Market Report:

• The advantages using graphene batteries
• The different ways graphene can be used in batteries
• Various types of graphene materials
• What's on the market today
• Detailed specifications of some graphene-enhanced anode material
• Personal contact details into most graphene developers

The report package provides a good introduction to the graphene battery - present and future. It includes a list of all graphene companies involved with batteries and gives detailed specifications of some graphene-enhanced anode materials and contact details into most graphene developers. Read more here!

Mr. Xu Jiang, president and general manager of China’s XFNano, was kind enough to answer a few questions we had for him regarding XFNano’s graphene materials, technology and business. Mr. Jiang founded XFNano in 2009, and he holds a master’s degree from Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications.

Q: Hello Mr. Jiang, thank you for your time. Can you update us on your graphene production process and facilities?

In 2016, XFNANO put its new production line into operation, which yields an annual production capacity of 50 tons of high-quality graphene powder and 1,000 tons of graphene dispersion. We believe this can meet our customers’ demands for large quantities.

Nanotech Energy has announced raising more than $3 million in investment funding. The R&D company was launched in August 2014 by physician-entrepreneur Dr. Jack Kavanaugh.

Nanotech Energy is a U.S-based supplier of graphene and graphene oxide materials and inks, and is developing graphene-enhanced batteries and microscopic supercapacitors for smartphones and biomedical devices.

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have developed a solution to a problem that has been setting back commercialization of a new kind of batteries. Lithium-metal batteries can take up to 10 times more charge than conventional lithium-ion batteries, but have not yet been commercialized due to the fact that lithium is deposited unevenly on the electrodes while charging and discharging. This buildup cuts the lives of these batteries too short to make them viable, and more importantly can cause the batteries to short-circuit and catch fire.

The team has delivered a potential solution to this problem in the form of a graphene-oxide-coated ‘nanosheet’ that, when placed in between the two electrodes of a lithium-metal battery, prevents uneven plating of lithium and allows the battery to safely function for hundreds of chargedischarge cycles.

Scientists from the Shanghai Institute of Ceramics in China have developed a 'smart' wallpaper based on highly flexible fire-resistant inorganic paper embedded with ultralong hydroxyapatite nanowires that serve as the substrate and graphene oxide as the thermosensitive sensor.

The authors explain: "After the paper-making process, hydroxyapatite nanowires and glass fibers are assembled into a well-defined multilayered structure spontaneously, which may be explained by the mechanical equilibrium between physical and chemical forces. The nacre-like multilayered structure is regarded as an effective strategy to balance the strength and toughness".

Researchers at Zhejiang University in China have designed a new type of aerogels, made of graphene and carbon nanotubes, that can be reversibly stretched to more than three times their original length, displaying elasticity similar to that of a rubber band. This stretchability, in addition to aerogels' existing properties like ultralow density, light weight, high porosity, and high conductivity, may lead to exciting new applications.

The scientists designed carbon aerogels consisting of both graphene and multi-walled carbon nanotubes assembled into four orders of hierarchical structures ranging from the nanometer to centimeter scale. To fabricate the material into aerogels, the researchers created an ink composed of graphene oxide and nanotubes, and then formed the aerogels via inkjet printing.

Researchers from Northwestern University have developed a hair dye based on graphene oxide that "does not include toxic compounds commonly used in hair dyes". As an added bonus, graphene-colored hair enjoys much less electrostatic frizz. Due to graphene’s thermal conductivity, the dye may even help dissipate heat on hot days. The team has filed a provisional patent for the color.

The researchers "used the biopolymer chitosan and ascorbic acid (vitamin C) to disperse flakes of graphene oxide (GO)—and the darker derivative, reduced GO—in water," which reportedly formed a smooth coating on the hair surface.

Researchers at UNSW have developed a graphene-based, laboratory-scale filter that can remove more than 99% of the natural organic matter left behind during conventional treatment of drinking water. In a research collaboration with Sydney Water, the team has demonstrated the success of the approach in laboratory tests on filtered water from the Nepean Water Filtration Plant in western Sydney, and is working to scale up the new technology.

"Our advance is to use filters based on graphene an extremely thin form of carbon. No other filtration method has come close to removing 99% of natural organic matter from water at low pressure," the UNSW team said. "Our results indicate that graphene-based membranes could be converted into an alternative new option that could in the future be retrofitted in conventional water treatment plants."