Bluestone Global Tech released two short videos introducing Graphene. The first focuses on the different graphene properties (strength, flexibility, conductivity, etc):
The second video is all about the different graphene applications, such as displays, LEDs, touch screens, batteries, solar cells and conductive wires
Researchers from Georgia Tech have developed a new low-temperature method to dope graphene films using self-assembled monolayers (SAM) that modify the interface of graphene and its support substrate. Using this method the researchers developed graphene p-n junctions.
The researchers used CVD to grow graphene on copper film and then transferred it to silicon dioxide substrates that were functionalized with the self-assembled monolayers. Thus they have shown that you can make fairly well doped p-type and n-type graphene controllably by patterning the underlying monolayer instead of modifying the graphene directly. All previous methods (such as substitution of carbon atoms for nitrogen atoms, compounds addition or graphene ribbons edge modification) or had disrupted the graphene lattice which reduced the electron mobility and the devices were not stable.
Nobel Prize-winner (together with Andre Geim) Professor and Kostya Novoselov Professor Volodya Falko from Lancaster University have released a graphene roadmap. The roadmap discusses the different possible applications for graphene and also the different ways to produce the material.
The authors says that the first key application is conductors for touch-screen displays (replacing ITO), where they expect can be commercialized within 3-5 years. They also see rollable e-paper displays soon - prototypes could appear in 2015. Come 2020, we can expect graphene-based devices such as photo-detectors, wireless communications and THz generators. Replacing silicon and delivering anti-cancer drugs are interesting applications too - but these will only be possible at around 2030.
Researchers from the UK's University of Exeter discovered a new graphene based material that can be used as an ITO replacement - it's a lightweight, flexible and transparent conductor. In fact it's more flexible than ITO. They call it GraphExeter.
To create the new material, the researchers compressed ferric chloride molecules between two sheets of graphene. They are also working on a spray-on version of the material.
Researchers from Rice University created thin hybrid metal-graphene electrodes - that outperform ITO electrodes, are also more transparent and less resistance to electric current. These electrodes can be used to create non-glass touch displays, transparent and flexible OLEDs, solar cells and lighting products.
The new electrode is a thin film of single-layer graphene and a fine grid of metal nanowire. It's basically a hybrid-graphene electrode. The metal is used to enhance the conductivity at the required transparency. The metal grid strengthens the graphene, and the graphene fills all the empty spaces between the grid. The researchers found a grid of five-micron nanowires made of inexpensive, lightweight aluminum did not detract from the material's transparency.
Scientists from the National Physical Laboratory in New Delhi, India developed graphene based quantum dots (GQDs) blended with organic polymers that can be used in new photovoltaics (solar) cells. This may solve the problem of toxic metals (cadmium and lead) used in today's quantum dots, and the new material is also more stable then current organic materials.
The GQDs are 9-nm in size have similar electronic properties to normal QDs, and actually perform better (less current loss and improved efficiency) because of graphene's high charge carrier mobility. This work could lead to light-weight, flexible and cheap panels - used in large-area roll-to-roll manufacturing. In fact they say that these GQDs may also be used in other applications such as OLED displays, and indeed the team fabricated OLEDs using the new material - with "good performance".
Electronics.ca published a new market research report (titled Graphene: Technologies, Applications, and Markets) in which they forecast that graphene-based product sales will reach $67 million in 2015 and $675 million in 2020. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2015 and 2020 will be 58.7%.
Here's how they see the market share of different graphene applications:
Researchers from Turkey's Bilkent University discovered that graphene oxide can be reversibly reduced and oxidized using electrical stimulus. They say that graphene's band structure can be electrochemically tuned in ambient air in a two terminal planar device (due to humidity in the air). The researchers claim that if this effect can be better controlled, you could use this to create E Ink like e-paper that will be ultrafast. This could also have applications in information processing.
Here's a video showing controlled reduction and oxidation in two-terminal devices (containing multilayer graphene oxide films):
Angstron Materials announced that its Graphene material is being used by a 'major manufacturer' to produce sensing components for touch screens. The company says that this is the world's first commercial graphene application.
We don't know the exact product yet - and how the Graphene is used in it.
Researchers at Stanford University have successfully developed a brand new concept of OLEDs with a few nanometer of graphene as transparent conductor. This paved the way for inexpensive mass production of OLEDs on large-area low-cost flexible plastic substrate, which could be rolled up like wallpaper and virtually applied to anywhere you want. The researchers say that Graphene has the potential to be transparent, high-performance, highly conductive and cheaper by several orders of magnitude than current ITO based solutions.
Graphene OLED