University of Manchester - Page 10

Proton transport in graphene may lead to renewable energy production

Researchers at The University of Manchester have found a new and exciting physical effect in graphene membranes that could be used in devices to artificially mimic photosynthesis.

Graphene proton transport open door to renewable energy image

The new findings demonstrated an increase in the rate at which the material conducts protons when it is simply illuminated with sunlight. The 'photo-proton' effect, as it has been named, could be utilized to design devices able to directly harvest solar energy to produce hydrogen gas, a promising green fuel. It might also be of interest for other applications, such as light-induced water splitting, photo-catalysis and for making new types of highly efficient photodetectors.

Read the full story Posted: Jan 24,2018

Graphene and hBN join to create unique ‘petri-dish’

Researchers at The University of Manchester and the NGI have shown how graphene and boron nitride can be used for observing nanomaterials in liquids, by creating a ‘petri-dish’ of sorts.

Graphene and hBN ''petri-dishes'' image

Scanning / transmission electron microscopy (S/TEM) is one of only few techniques that allows imaging and analysis of individual atoms. However, the S/TEM instrument requires a high vacuum to protect the electron source and to prevent electron scattering from molecular interactions. Several studies have previously revealed that the structure of functional materials at room temperature in a vacuum can significantly different from that in their normal liquid environment. So, it is important to be able to study the structure at the required state.

Read the full story Posted: Jan 15,2018

Manchester University team develops graphene sensors for IoT applications

Researchers at The University of Manchester have developed graphene sensors embedded into RFIDs, which may have the potential to revolutionize the Internet of Things (IoT). The team layered graphene-oxide over graphene to create a flexible heterostructures that function as humidity sensors for remote sensing with the ability to connect to any wireless network.

Manchester team devises graphene sensors for IoT applications image

The novel aspect of this development is that such sensors can be printed layer-by-layer for scalable mass production at very low costs. The device also requires no battery source as it harvests power from the receiver.

Read the full story Posted: Jan 09,2018

New method could produce industrial scale graphene-enhanced e-textiles

Scientists at The University of Manchester have reported the development of a simple and cost-effective method to manufacture graphene-based wearable electronic textiles on an industrial scale. The new method could allow graphene e-textiles to be manufactured at commercial production rates of 150 meters per minute, the team said. Our simple and cost-effective way of producing multi-functional graphene textiles could easily be scaled up for many real-life applications, such as sportswear, military gear, and medical clothing, said the researchers.

Manchetser develops new method for GO e-textiles image

The team reversed the previous process of coating textiles with graphene-based materials; Traditionally, the textiles are first coated with graphene oxide, which is then converted into its functional form of reduced graphene oxide. Instead, the researchers first reduced the graphene oxide in solution, and then coated the textiles with the reduced form.

Read the full story Posted: Dec 25,2017

Graphene-enhanced shoes poised to start a footwear revolution

The University of Manchester has teamed up with British sportswear brand Inov-8 to become the world's first company to incorporate graphene into running and fitness shoes. Laboratory tests have shown that the rubber outsoles of the newly developed shoes, planned to arrive on the market in 2018, are stronger, more stretchy and more resistant to wear.

NGI and Inov8 develop graphene-enhance shoes image

Michael Price, inov-8 Product and Marketing Director, said: Off-road runners and fitness athletes live at the sporting extreme and need the stickiest outsole grip possible to optimize their performance, be that when running on wet trails or working out in sweaty gyms. For too long, they have had to compromise this need for grip with the knowledge that such rubber wears down quickly... Now, utilizing the groundbreaking properties of graphene, there is no compromise. The new rubber we have developed with the National Graphene Institute at The University of Manchester allows us to smash the limits of grip. Our lightweight G-Series shoes deliver a combination of traction, stretch and durability never seen before in sports footwear. 2018 will be the year of the world’s toughest grip.

Read the full story Posted: Dec 07,2017

NGI and William Blythe to collaborate on graphene-enhanced energy storage project

The NGI at The University of Manchester and William Blythe have announced the start of a new joint research project, targeting the development of high capacity graphene-related materials for use in the electric vehicle market.

The project will combine William Blythe’s core capabilities in inorganic synthetic chemistry and their graphene-oxide with the specialist experience of The University of Manchester’s Professor Robert Dryfe and the energy storage team at the NGI.

Read the full story Posted: Nov 26,2017

Manchester team creates graphene oxide membranes that can filter organic solvents

Researchers at the National Graphene Institute and School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science at The University of Manchester have developed an ultra-thin membrane using graphene-oxide sheets, that were assembled in a way that they were able to completely remove various organic dyes, dissolved in methanol, which were as small as a nanometre. This is exciting as GO membranes were once thought to be permeable only to aqueous solutions, but the researchers developed a new form of graphene oxide membrane that can filter organic solvents.

Manchetser and NGI team created unique GO membranes image

In the newly developed ultrathin membranes, graphene-oxide sheets are assembled in such a way that pinholes formed during the assembly are interconnected by graphene nanochannels, which produces an atomic-scale sieve allowing the large flow of solvents through the membrane. When used to filter Cognac and whisky, the membrane permitted alcohol to pass through but trapped the larger molecules that gives the whisky its color. Professor Nair, which led the group, said that "the clear whisky smells similar to the original whisky but we are not allowed to drink it in the lab, however it was a funny Friday night experiment!

Read the full story Posted: Nov 15,2017

NPL & NGI compose a good practice guide for graphene metrology

The National Graphene Institute at the University of Manchester has joined forces with the NPL to develop a guide, as part of NPL's good practice guide series, that conveys "a detailed description of how to determine the key structural properties of graphene, so that the graphene community can adopt a common metrological approach that allows the comparison of commercially available graphene materials. This guide brings together the accepted metrology in this area".

NPL's good practice guide image

The guide, titled Characterization of the Structure of Graphene, follows last month's release of the NPL's work on the first ISO (International Organization for Standardization) graphene standard. It describes the high-accuracy and precision required for verification of material properties and enables the development of other faster quality control techniques in the future. The guide is intended to form a bedrock for future interlaboratory comparisons and international standards.

Read the full story Posted: Nov 13,2017

Researchers at The University of Manchester create miniaturized pressure sensors using graphene membranes

Researchers at The University of Manchester have fabricated highly sensitive miniaturized pressure sensors using graphene membranes.

The team reported that the new sensor was made possible by developing a way to effectively float a graphene membrane mere nanometers above a silicon chip. When pressure moves this membrane closer to the surface of the chip, the resulting change in capacitance is measured to read out the pressure change. By fabricating thousands of such floating membranes next to each other, a device can be made of exceptionally high sensitivity to pressure changes.

Read the full story Posted: Nov 12,2017

Inkjet-printed graphene-based strain sensor shows promise

Researchers in the UK (the University of Manchester) and Italy (the University of Pisa) have developed an inkjet-printed graphene strain gauge sensor on paper. The device is said to have a gauge factor of up to 125 even when very small strains are applied, and its overall sensitivity and performance can be tuned by different printing parameters, such as drop-spacing and number of printing passes. It might be used in applications like robot skin and health monitoring applications, and in smart packaging.

Inkjet-printed graphene-based water quality sensors image

The team made their strain gauge by depositing conductive lines made from a network of graphene flakes (dispersed in water as the solvent) on a PEL P60 paper substrate using a simple Dimatix DMP-2850 inkjet printer. This printer can create and define patterns over an area of about 200 mm x 300 mm and handle substrates that are up to 25 mm thick. A waveform editor and a drop-watch camera system were used to manipulate electronic pulses to the jetting deice for optimizing the drops’ characteristics as they were ejected from the nozzle.

Read the full story Posted: Oct 29,2017