Graphene sensors: introduction and market status - Page 20

Researchers from Swinburne University developed a graphene-based highly efficient solar absorbing film that absorbs sunlight with minimal heat loss. The film rapidly heats up in an open environment and has great potential in solar thermal energy harvesting systems - in addition to other applications such as thermophotovoltaics (directly converting heat to electricity), solar seawater desalination, light emitters and photodetectors.

This is the 2nd-generation material developed by the same group - now with a thickness of only 30 nm and improved performance and longer lifetime. The researchers have now created a first prototype and also suggest a scalable low-cost manufacturing process.

A new graphene-based sensor that measures stress via cortisol in sweat could be used by NASA to gauge the anxiety levels of astronauts.

Developed by Caltech assistant professor of medical engineering, Wei Gao, the device features a plastic sheet etched with a laser to generate a 3D graphene structure with tiny pores in which sweat can collect. Those pores create a large amount of surface area in the sensor, which makes it sensitive enough to detect compounds in the sweat that are only present in very small amounts. Those tiny pores are also coupled with an antibody sensitive to cortisol, allowing the sensor to detect the compound.

A team of researchers at the University of Michigan, led by Zhaohui Zhong, Jeffrey Fessler and Theodore Norris of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, has created a 3D camera made from a stack of transparent graphene photodetectors that can capture and focus on objects that are different distances away from the camera lens. The device might find use in applications as diverse as biological imaging, driverless cars and robotics.

Image credit: Stephen Alvey, University of Michigan

Most of today’s optical imaging systems use a flat optical detector to record the intensity of light reflected from an object at each pixel. However, since these systems detect light in only one plane, all the information concerning the direction of the light rays is lost. This means that the recorded images are simple 2D projections of the actual 3D object being imaged.

In April 2018, researchers at the India-based Uttarakhand Residential University, RI Instruments and Innovationin developed a graphene-based technology to prevent vehicles from operating if the driver is drunk. Now, the same team produced a prototype that will be based on graphene generated from waste products and wild grasses as one of the components.

Graphene has an important role in the device as graphene-coated electrodes can catalyze the process of oxidation of ethyl alcohol into acetic acid. The concentration of alcohol will automatically disconnect the device, the team explained. The driver, while at the driving seat, has to blow the graphene sensor on the device to start the vehicle. This will immediately activate the sensor that will analyze and estimate the liquor content present in the blood of the driver.

The Graphene Flagship has announced the launch of eleven new "Spearhead Projects", each developed to take graphene-enabled prototypes to commercial applications. Now, the Graphene Flagship has committed 45 million Euro to invest in eleven commercialization projects led by key industrial partners in Europe such as Airbus, Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles, Lufthansa Technik, Siemens, and ABB. Notably, the project partners will also co-fund the projects with a further combined contribution of 47 million Euro, showing their interest in the development of graphene-enabled products.

The newly launched projects combine the results of the Graphene Flagship's innovative scientific research with the ambitions of commercial partners for marketable applications. This initiative will bring the number of companies involved in the Graphene Flagship to 78, which makes up nearly half of the whole consortium.

The NanoEDGE BMBF-Project, coordinated by the Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering IBMT, aims at the development of a graphene-based ink for inkjet printing and a scalable printing process as well as a resource-efficient process chain for the production of electrodes for direct skin contact.

Printed test electrodes in the NanoEDGE project

The development of a graphene-based ink is based on a commercial graphene ink. Ink modification was necessary to make it printable. Ethanol is added to avoid bubbles and to decrease the surface tension of the ink. Carbon nanoparticles are added to improve abrasion resistance of printed structures. A surfactant is added to improve printability and to increase the conductivity and surface smoothness of printed structures.

Archer Materials (formerly Archer Exploration) has reported progressing its graphene-based biosensor technology development by building a first-phase prototype device to test the printing and performance of graphene inks.

The prototype biosensor technology built at the University of Adelaide ARC Graphene Hub

Graphene ink formulations produced from the inventory of Carbon Allotropes, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Archer, have reportedly been successfully printed and tested in a prototype device for biosensing.

Researchers from Iowa State University’s (ISU) Department of Mechanical Engineering, led by Dr. Jonathan Claussen, have developed a graphene-enhanced sensor that can detect organophosphates at levels 40 times smaller than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommendations. Organophosphates are certain classes of insecticides used on crops throughout the world to kill insects.

Claussen and his team have developed Salt Impregnated Inkjet Maskless Lithography (SIIML), which uses an inkjet printer to create inexpensive graphene circuits with high electrical conductivity. They add salts to the ink, which is later washed away to leave microsized divots or craters in the surface. This textured printed graphene surface is able to bind with pesticide-sensing enzymes to increase sensitivity during pesticide biosensing.

A Rutgers University-led team has created what it is calling a "better biosensor technology that may help lead to safe stem cell therapies for treating Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases and other neurological disorders".

The development, which is based on a graphene and gold platform and high-tech imaging system, monitors the progress of stem cells by detecting genetic material (RNA) involved in turning such cells into brain cells (neurons).

Cardea Bio (formerly: Nanomedical Diagnostics) and Nanosens Innovations have joined forces to accelerate the development of the Genome Sensor: the world's first DNA search engine that runs on CRISPR-Chip technology.

Cardea has announced the finalization of their merger-acquisition of Nanosens Innovations, the creators of CRISPR-Chip. Cardea first came out with the news of the proposed merger in September, along with the announcement of their Early Access Program for the Genome Sensor. Built with CRISPR-Chip technology, the Genome Sensor is the world’s first DNA search engine. It can google genomes to detect genetic mutations and variations.