Flexible - Page 6

Researchers at the University of Guangzhou, China, managed to improve the capacitance of supercapacitors by nearly 1000-fold compared with that of the laminated or wrinkled CVD graphene-film-based supercapacitors. To achieve this, the researchers integrated transparency into freestanding, flexible graphene paper (FFT-GP). These supercapacitors's capacitance is also about ten times better than previously reported values for transparent and flexible supercapacitors based on pure carbon materials. However, some carbon-based nontransparent supercapacitors still perform better than the FFT-GP-based transparent supercapacitor. 

The improved performance is mainly based on the prism-like graphene building blocks that the FFT-GP is made of. The hollow structures of the graphene that give the material its transparency also provide additional space for chemical reactions to occur compared to other materials. Also, the aligned and interconnected prism-like structures provide a wide open path for ions and electrons to travel along and the good charge transport leads to an overall better performance.

The Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology has developed a transparent hybrid electronic device production technique for the manufacturing of wireless smart sensors. The is based on a combination of graphene and metal nanowires and the team says it maintains its electrical characteristics even when folded or pulled.

The smart sensor that is based on the device can be attached to various surfaces, even the human skin, for real-time monitoring of changes in biomaterials (like various proteins). The sensor wirelessly transmits the changes in biomaterials using its built-in antenna and maintains excellent flexibility even after long exposure to air and heat. The power required for the transmission and reception is supplied by its transmission antenna, and thus no battery is required.

UK-based FlexEnable has recently joined the Graphene Flagship and announced its plans for this year, which will mainly focus on developing new use cases for graphene in flexible electronics including highly conductive interconnect lines and barrier films.

Starting April 2016, the Graphene Flagship is scheduled to move into its core project phase, where FlexEnable’s expertise in industrializing flexible electronics will be utilized to harness the potential of graphene and other 2d materials. FlexEnable’s Cambridge fab will play an important role in showcasing graphene’s performance over surfaces of all sizes, including large areas as well as in the development of advanced product concepts.

In December 2014, Rice University researchers designed a process (called LIG) in which a computer-controlled laser burns through a polymer to create flexible, patterned sheets of multilayer graphene that may be suitable for electronics or energy storage.

Now, their research has advanced to use the LIG process to produce 3D supercapacitors. The scientists made supercapacitors with laser-induced graphene on both sides of a polymer sheet. The sections were stacked with solid electrolytes in between, to get a multilayer construct with multiple micro-supercapacitors.

Researchers from Kansas State University studied graphene oxide sheets as flexible paper electrodes for sodium-ion flexible batteries and found GO to have important properties that can boost the efficiency of such batteries.

The scientists explored graphene oxide sheets as flexible paper electrodes for sodium batteries. They found that sodium storage capacity of paper electrodes depends on the distance between the layers that can be adjusted by heating it in argon or ammonia gas. The researchers also showed that a flexible paper composed entirely of graphene oxide sheets can charge and discharge with sodium-ions for more than 1,000 cycles.

the Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI) announced the development of a technology that enables the use of graphene for 3D printing, which is supposed to significantly improve the manufacture of flexible and wearable devices.

Their technology enables the 3D printing of objects using metal, plastic and graphene, and can be applied to diverse industrial segments with printed electronics particularly in mind.

Nokia has recently issued what could be a truly revolutional patent: a self-charging graphene-based photon battery, capable of being printed on flexible substrates.

The patent describes a battery that can regenerate itself immediately after discharge through continuous chemical reactions, without an external energy input. The result is an energy autonomous device. The battery uses humid air for the purpose of recharging and be made highly transparent.

Scientists at the University of Kansas managed to fabricate an innovative substance made of an atomic sheet of graphene interlocked with a sheet tungsten disulfide that could be used for solar cells and flexible electronics.

The material was formed using "layer to layer assembly" as a versatile bottom-up nanofabrication technique. The scientists then examined the motion of electrons between the layers through ultrafast laser spectroscopy, and found that nearly 100% of the electrons that absorbed energy from the laser pulse moved from the tungsten layer to the graphene within one picosecond, proving that the new material combines the properties of each component layer.

Researchers from University of Wisconsin (with support from DARPA) developed new 4-atom thick graphene-based sensors that are so thin to be virtually transparent - which allows the sensors to perform both electrical and optical brain measurements at the same time.

The graphene-based contacts are used to measure and also stimulate neural tissue. These kinds of sensors could provide new insights into relationships between brain structure and function, and how these evolve by injury or disease.

Researchers from China's Xi'an Jiaotong University suggest a new bio-inspired soft robot platform made from graphene composites. The graphene robot is driven by near-infrared (nIR) light as graphene has excellent photothermal conversion efficiency in the nIR light band.

The team suggests building a microfish made from graphene and polymers. The microfish is controlled by nIR light. This is bilayer (pure-PDMS and GNP-PDMS) platform that is easily produced by scraping coating and spin coating processing. The bilayer platform is a soft photoresponsive material that can work in both air and water.