Graphene: one atom thick material with exciting potential!

A European team has developed a new way to Graphene, on the cheap. The team has grown high-quality graphene on the surface of commercially available silicon carbide wafers to produce material with excellent electronic properties. It had been thought that the substrate they used, cubic 3C-SiC, or β-SiC (which is widely grown commercially), wouldn't be suitable because of its cubic lattice structure. But they say that the interaction with the substrate is almost negligible, rendering this system a perfect candidate for future graphene-based electronics.

Via TechEye

Vorbeck Materials announces a new Graphene-based conductive ink formulation for flexographic printing, Vor-ink Flexo. The new ink enables the high-speed printing of this highly conductive material. Like other Vor-ink formulations using graphene, Vor-ink Flexo retains conductivity even after repeat bending and folding. Vor-ink Flexo can be cured at low temperatures and is designed for use on a variety of substratesincluding paper, paperboard, and polymer films.

Vor-ink Flexo is available at a cost well below competing silver-basedinks. In addition, printers can rely on high line speeds and rapid drying, lowering costs by increasing throughput. Vor-ink Flexo is designed to be used on current commercial flexographic presses without the need for specialized equipment, providing a cost-effective solution for high-speed roll-to-roll printing of electronics.

Researchers from Rice University and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology today developed a new method to produce very pure graphene. The idea is to dissolve graphite in chlorosulphonic acid, a common industrial solvent. Using new methods to measure the aggregation of the dissolved graphene flakes, individual graphene layers in the graphite peeled apart spontaneously.

The team was able to dissolve as much as two grams of graphene per liter of acid to produce solutions at least 10 times more concentrated than existing methods.

via Eurekalert

Researchers from Rice University say that have plans to create Graphene based quantum dots - which could enable single-molecule sensors and could lead to ultra-small transistors and on-chip communications with semiconductor lasers.

Quantum dots are vacancies (wells) that can confine excitons—bound electron-hole pairs—in a semiconductor to achieve properties that are superior to those of bulk materials. The Rice University researchers have added a new twist—leaving a single layer of carbon in the bottom of the well. The researchers reasoned that by removing islands of hydrogen from both sides of the sheets, tiny wells of conductive graphene, surrounded by the graphene insulator, will be left behind that could be used as quantum dots.

Via EETimes

University Of Utah researchers have developed a method to form pristine carbon nanotubes and graphene films without using expensive and time consuming post processing steps and systems The graphene ribbon has a width in the range of 1 to 20 nanometers. The graphene nanoribbons are induced to curl into carbon nanotubes by atomic deposition.

via BeforeItsNews

Researchers from Rice University has used theoretical models to determine that graphene can transmit thermal energy in waves. Given the elastic properties of graphene, long waves of the acoustic kind seem to work best. Because the scattering properties of graphene are low, such waves can go fast and far, unobstructed by each other or by imperfections in the material.

Via PhysOrg

Researchers from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in the US have shown in 3 studies that Graphene should be the nanomaterial of choice to strengthen composite materials used in everything from wind turbines to aircraft wings.

The studies found that composites infused with graphene are stronger, stiffer and less prone to failure than composites comprised of carbon nanotubes and other nanoparticles.

via Merid.org