Graphenea - Page 8

Scientists from ICFO, MIT, CNRS, CNISM and Graphenea collaborated to demonstrate how graphene can enable the electrical control of light at the nanometer level. Electrically controlled modulation of light emission is crucial in applications like sensors, displays and various optical communication system. It also opens the door to nanophotonics and plasmonics-based devices. 

The researchers managed to show that the energy flow from erbium into photons or plasmons can be controlled by applying a small electrical voltage. The plasmons in graphene are unique, as they are very strongly confined, with a plasmon wavelength that is much smaller than the wavelength of the emitted photons. As the Fermi energy of the graphene sheet was gradually increased, the erbium emitters went from exciting electrons in the graphene sheet, to emitting photons or plasmons. The experiments showed the graphene plasmons at near-infrared frequencies, which may be beneficial for communications applications. In addition, the strong concentration of optical energy offers new possibilities for data storage and manipulation through active plasmonic networks.

The Spanish company Graphenea, focused on the production of high quality graphene for industrial applications, is working with Spanish alliance of R&D centers IK4-Tekniker to jointly design automate graphene production process.

Their objective is to design a more automated, standardisable, scalable and reliable production process, since the production of graphene sheets is often difficult and laborious.

Graphenea has opened a branch in the USA to assist more immediate service of the company's North American customers. The US branch, Graphenea Inc, is based in Cambridge (Boston), MA, due to the close relation that the company has with research giants Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard. Apart from developing collaborative projects with those two partners, and acting as a sales outpost for its renown high-quality graphene, Graphenea Inc will set up an Applications Laboratory to help develop custom graphene materials.

The US outpost of Graphenea will continue and enhance the research excellence of the company, with planned hirings of full time R&D and Business Development personnel, says Jesus de la Fuente, CEO of Graphenea. The most pronounced application directions that we will pursue will be advanced polymers, thermal interface materials, energy storage, and (bio)sensors.

Graphenea demonstrated how gallium nitride (GaN) can be grown on silicon using graphene as an intermediary layer. GaN (and other semiconductors) are very appealing for applications such as LEDs, lasers and high-frequency and high-power transistors, and silicon is a great substrate for this, but it is very difficult to grown high-quality epitaxial GaN films on Si(100).

Graphene (in collaboration with MIT,Ritsumeikan University, Seoul National University and Dongguk University) found out that graphene can be used as an intermediary layer in such a structure. The hexagonal lattice of graphene has the same symmetry as that of GaN, and it can also be easily transferred to a silicon wafer. The company's method results in the best GaN(0001) layers on Si(100) demonstrated to date.

Smithers Apex announced the speakers for the first Graphene World Summit, a graphene-focused event that will take place September 15-16 in Kerkeley, California. The speaker list is quite impressive - and it includes IBM, Argonne National Laboratory, Applied Graphene Materials, Grafoid, Bluestone Global Tech, Cambridge Graphene Center, Cientifica, Graphene Frontiers, Graphene Technologies, Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), Graphenea, Strategic News Service, XG Sciences, Raytheon and more.

The summit will focus on bringing together the scientific and business communities. Planned sessions at event include the global path to standardization, innovation and commercialization; investment strategies; material development and production case studies; and game-changing applications and commercialization success stories.

After four years of existence, Graphenea (a graphene-info sponsor) has revamped its corporate image and website this month. Here's the new company logo and following is a sponsored message from the Graphenea team:

On Graphenea's website, you can still find the high quality graphene oxide and graphene films, as well as other graphene products. Alongside, the Graphenea website boasts a list of publications, addressing in depth various graphene topics, such as the popular graphene price article, an article on applications and uses of graphene, and other informative articles on aspects related to graphene commercialization.

Researchers from Harvard University, FEI Corporation and the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, in collaboration with Graphenea, invented a new atomic chisel made from a single silicon atom that can be used to make pores or nanostructures in graphene. This can be used to create clear edges for nanoribbons, open nanopres for DNA sequencing and fabricate a host of nanostructures for use in future molecular electronics devices and make nanopores for DNA sequencing applications.

The atomic "chisel" is made from a silicon atom and is controlled by a high-energy beam in a transmission electron microscope. This produces a catalytic wedge. The kinetic energy from the electron beam helps to selectively chip off carbon atoms from the graphene lattice one by one so we obtain nice clean holes or edges in the carbon material.

last month Graphenea announced that it has received a €1 million ($1.36 million) investment which will be used to accelerate Graphenea's business plan towards industrialization. Today the company announced it reduced prices by around 27% due to increased production efficiency, an improvement in process yield, and the acquisition of new lab equipment.

The company also announced that in 2014 it will invest in improved quality control equipment and processes to ensure that they will be able to offer high batch-to-batch reproducibility. They also said they expect the price of graphene to continue to decrease in coming years. Graphenea's current pilot graphene production line has an annual capacity of 150,000 square centimeters per year.

Graphenea announced that it has received a 1 million Euro ($1.36 million) investment from Repsol Energy Ventures and CDTI Innvierte venture capital fund. The funds will be used to accelerate Graphenea's business plan towards industrialization. Graphenea's current pilot graphene production line has an annual capacity of 150,000 square centimeters per year.

Graphenea produces graphene using a CVD process and graphene flakes using chemical exfoliation. Graphenea says their materials (sold to over 40 countries) are used to develop applications such as batteries, supercapacitors, solar cells and more. The company has 11 employees and has doubled its revenue annually since it was launched. Graphene says the are the main graphene producer for the EU's 1 billion Euro 10-year Graphene Flagship project.

Graphenea researchers discovered that adding graphene to ceramic alumina can make it stronger - it is up to 50% less likely to break under strain. Graphenea's method is simple, fast and scalable, and it makes the alumina a hundred million times more conductive to electricity. Graphenea believes the same process will work for other ceramic materials such as silicon carbide, silicon nitride, titania, and zirconia.

A single graphene sheet bridges a crack in alumina

Graphenea's new process starts with graphene oxide - which is mixed with aluminium oxide (alumina) , and then they use a process known as spark plasma sintering (SPS, which drives a large electrical current through the material) to homogenize the graphene/alumina mixture. It was found that adding just 0.22% of graphene to alumina makes it 50% more resistant to the propagation of cracks under strain. Other mechanical properties stayed on par with untouched alumina, while electrical conductivity increased by a factor of a hundred million.