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Cheap Tubes updates us on their graphene paper R&D. They have produced five samples and sent them to an independent laboratory for resistivity measurements. Cheap Tubes reports that they have achieved milliohm resistivity for graphene paper. Cheap Tubes plans to continue their R&D for both resistivity and scalability (on small scale and large scale samples). 

Cheap Tubes recently bought second hand equipment that will be used in their graphene paper R&D. The company bought this used equipment at an auction (it was previously used by now-bankrupt solar panel maker Konarka) and will install it in its new Rockingham, Vermont facility. Cheap Tubes is partnering with American Graphite Technologies, which supplies them with graphite materials. AGT is a publicly traded mineral exploration and technology development company.

Cheap Tubes purchased equipment that will be used in their graphene paper R&D. The company bought this used equipment at an auction (it was previously used by now-bankrupt solar panel maker Konarka) and will install it in its new Rockingham, Vermont facility.

Cheap Tubes plans to retrofit the equipment for the manufacture of graphene paper, and hopes to begin testing in about 3 months. Cheap Tubes is partnering with American Graphite Technologies, which will supply them with graphite materials. AGT is a publicly traded mineral exploration and technology development company.

Graphene Laboratories recently signed a two-year strategic alliance agreement with Canada's Lomiko Metals, the owner of several resource properties containing high-grade graphite. Today Lomiko announced that it has prepared a variety of high to ultra pure carbon flake graphite samples that will be tested by Graphene Labs.

Those graphite samples were provided from the Quatre Milles Project. The main goal of the testing will be to develop a feasible procedure for the purification of flake graphite for use in graphene production.

Robert Murray-Smith posted a new video (with unsynchronized audio) showing how to make graphene-oxide at home. The basic idea is to start with a mix of sulfuric acid and phosphoric acid, add powdered graphite and stir it. Then you add permanganate and stir it for three days. Robert hasn't managed to actually isolate the graphene oxide, but he's working on that:

If anyone tries that himself, let us know the results...

Graphene Laboratories recently signed a two-year strategic alliance agreement with Canada's Lomiko Metals, the owner of several resource properties containing high-grade graphite. Graphite Investor News posted an interesting interview with Lomiko Metals' CEO, A. Paul Gill.

Mr. Gill says that he sees a "huge market" for graphene, as billions of dollars have already been spent on research and development. Gill says that Graphene Labs alone have sold graphene products to over 4,000 customers, including Ford, Sony, Samsung, LG, the US Army and NASA.

American Graphite Technologies (AGT) and its development partner Cheap Tubes announced today that they have successfully produced graphene paper samples. Those samples are 50-150um thick and are highly conductive (about 2-3ohms resistivity across a 2" area).

Cheap Tubes is now moving to the second phase of their project, which will bring improvements to the size, conductivity and scalability of this graphene paper. They hope to achieve low cost roll-to-roll production capabilities. Cheap Tubes is also upgrading its Vermont development facility.

Researchers from Korea's Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) developed a simple and efficient way to produce Edge-selectively functionalized graphene nanoplatelets (EFGnPs) from graphite. The researchers are actually grinding graphite using a dry ball mill. The presence of chemical vapors, liquids or solids in the ball-mill crushes results in the creation of various functional groups.

Using various microscopic and spectroscopic measurements, the reaction mechanisms for the edge functionalization of graphite was confirmed.

The European NanoMaster project (a EC Seventh Framework funded project which started on December 2011 and is being led by NetComposites, UK, and involves 12 other project partners including Philips) has developed new grades of expanded graphite - used to produce high-quality graphene. The project aims to develop up-scale processing methods for production of graphene and expanded graphite reinforced thermoplastic masterbatches and compounds.

The new expanded graphite and nano-graphite materials are designed to be easier to exfoliate in both chemical and mechanical processes and are also useful when trying to tailor the properties of the final composite for different applications. As part of the project, high quality graphene has been produced from those new graphite materials via a multiple-stage chemical exfoliation process involving oxidative treatment, washing, filtration and reduction.

Researchers from the National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan are studying graphene flakes, and creating conductive materials. Producing these flakes is much more simple than fabricating actual graphene sheets (they are doing it by chemically treating graphite). The researchers have been using these flakes to make regular paper conductive (simply by painting a solution with graphene flakes on it).

One of the first application the researchers are working on is strain sensors that can replace current sensors in oil and gas pipe lines, bridges, engines and airplanes to check the conditions of these items. They believe this could be one of the first real-world graphene applications.

Researchers from Lawrence Livermore have developed a new method to mass produce graphene based materials. The idea is to use polymer-derived carbon foams and selectively removing carbon atoms from a network composed of both unstructured carbon and graphite nanoplatelets. This creates a materials whose physical properties can be dynamically changed by an external signal.

The researchers says that the new technique is inexpensive, scalable, and yields mechanically robust, centimeter-sized monolithic samples that are composed almost entirely of interconnected networks of single-layer graphene nanoplatelets. The materials have an ultra-high surface area and may thus be used for energy storage systems. They can also be used as an electrically conductive network to support the active material in battery applications or be used for capacitive desalination.