Graphene Oxide: Introduction and Market News - Page 21

Researchers from Tsinghua University in China have designed a low-cost energy storage device using a TiO2-assisted UV reduction of sandwiched graphene components. The sandwich structure consists of two active layers of reduced graphene oxide hybridized with TiO2, with a graphene oxide separator (rGO-TiO2/rGO/rGO-TiO2). In the device, the separator layer also acts as a reservoir for the electrolyte, which affects ion diffusion—a known problem for layered membrane devices—and affects both the capacity and rate performance.

The team explained that a step-by-step vacuum filtration process is used to form the membrane structure, and the amount of graphene oxide used in the filtration solutions can be adjusted to precisely tune the thickness of each layer. Irradiation of the dried membrane with UV light then reduces the graphene oxide to rGO with assistance from the TiO2.

Today we published a new version 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 July 2017.

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!

Guiness World Records has named a 3D printed graphene aerogel as "the least dense 3D printed structure". The 3D printed graphene aerogel, developed by a Kansas State University, University at Buffalo and Lanzhou University (China) team, weighs 0.5 milligrams per cubic centimeter. This achievement will be featured in the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS 2018 Edition.

The way the researchers print the three-dimensional graphene is also regarded as revolutionary. The researchers use a modified inkjet printer that uses two nozzles. They 3D print droplets of a graphene oxide and water mixture in a freezer on a cold plate that is minus 20 degrees Celsius. This method creates a 3D ice structure of graphene and frozen water, which helps the graphene to maintain its shape.

Researchers from China have turned a sheet of graphene oxide into a material that bends when exposed to moisture, which they used to create a spider-like crawler and claw robot that move in response to changing humidity conditions without the need for any external power.

The researchers stated that "Our very simple method for making typical graphene oxides smart is also extremely efficient. A sheet can be prepared within one second". They also reported that graphene oxide sheets treated with brief exposure to bright light in the form of a camera flash exhibited reversible bending at angles from zero to 85 degrees in response to switching the relative humidity between 33 and 86 percent. They also demonstrated that their method is repeatable and the simple robots they created have good stability.

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Pune have used graphene oxide to develop a novel cancer drug delivery system. The researchers' achievement relies on a rather surprising revelation - they found that when a FDA-approved anticancer drug cisplatin was added, the graphene oxide sheets self-assembled into spherical nanoparticles enclosing the drug within.

Lab tests showed that the nanoparticles (of 90-120 nanometre in size) containing cisplatin and either of two other anticancer drugs ( proflavine and doxorubicin) were taken up by cervical cancer cells leading to programmed cell death.

Researchers at Swinburne University are progressing towards producing commercially viable, chemical-free, long-lasting, safe energy devices. The team is developing the Bolt Electricity Storage Technology (BEST) a graphene oxide-based supercapacitor offering high performance and low-cost energy storage.

The team explains that this technology is environmentally friendly, and a patent was recently filed on it. It is reportedly on the brink of becoming a commercial prototype. Also stated was that investment in the technology's development will soon be under way through Graphene Solutions, a joint venture between graphite miner First Graphite Resources (FGR) and Australia-based electronics company Kremford.

Zenyatta Ventures has announced a program for a scaled-up production method of its graphite to graphene oxide for applications like water treatment, sensors, supercapacitors and Li‐ion batteries. The program is receiving grant funding from the Ontario Centres for Excellence (OCE) to allow a team of scientists at Lakehead University in Ontario, Canada to carry out this research.

The OCE funding helps established Ontario‐based companies develop, implement and commercialize technical innovations by supporting partnerships with publicly‐funded post‐secondary institutions. The focus of the research work will be on scaling up production methods for Zenyatta’s graphite to GO, a first critical step towards commercialization of the technology. The OCE VIP II $100,000 grant will be administered over two years and Zenyatta will be contributing $50,000 in cash and $60,000 in‐kind support to the project.

Researchers affiliated with UNIST (Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology) in Korea have engineered a new type of carbon nanomaterials, reportedly capable of changing shapes and colors depending on the type of solvents used. Such materials have attracted much attention thanks to their unique optical properties and structures.

The research team has presented a unique design and synthesis of hybrid carbon nanosheets (CNSs), which show a strong solvatochromic behavior (the ability of a chemical to change color due to a change in solvent polarity) with wide color tunability ranging from blue to orange and even to white in various solvents. This unique hybrid CNS features clusters of carbon nanorings on the surface of graphene-oxide (GO) nanosheets as the product of the hydrothermal reaction of small molecular precursors in the presence of GO nanosheets. Moreover, under UV and visible-light excitation, the hybrid CNS exhibits tunable emission spanning the wide range of colors in a series of solvents with different polarities.

Rutgers University scientists have created a graphene-based sensor that could lead to earlier detection of asthma attacks and improve the management respiratory diseases, possibly preventing hospitalizations and deaths.

The Rutgers team aims for the sensor to pave the way for the development of devices - possibly resembling fitness trackers - which people could wear and then know when and at what dosage to take their medication.

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.