December 2016

Graphene Nanochem secured order for its Platdrill fluid in China

Graphene Nanochem received a contract order for its Platdrill fluid in the shale gas market in China worth about $360,000. The order pertains to 4,000 barrels of PlatDrill, a smart fluid that speeds the drilling and quality of shale gas as well proving environmental and economic benefits.

The contract is for servicing two wells in Changning in the southwest of the country, an area where 300 shale gas wells are expected to be drilled over the next five years.

Read the full story Posted: Dec 29,2016

The best of 2016 - top graphene stories

2016 will soon be over - and it was an eventful year for the graphene industry. While we see more graphene-based products continue to enter the market, including some graphene-enhanced sensors and energy related applications, it seems that on the whole the market is now waiting for graphene to prove its potential.

Here are the top 10 stories posted on Graphene-Info in 2016, ranked by popularity (i.e. how many people read the story):

Read the full story Posted: Dec 27,2016

Graphene Nanochem received up to £2.5 million in convertible loan, returns to AIM trading

Graphene Nanochem announced that the company arranged a loan note subscription agreement with Darwin Capital Ltd, to raise up to £2.5 million. This load finalizes the company's restructuring that it announced in April 2016, and the company's shares are set to resume trading at the UK's AIM stock exchange (the trading halted on June 28th 2016).

As part of the re-organization plans, Graphene Nanochem will dispose of its platinum subsidiaries to focus on nanofluids (oil field chemicals), water treatment and enhanced building materials.

 
Read the full story Posted: Dec 25,2016

Graphene-based electrostatic speaker developed by China-based company

Wuxi JCNO Materials, a company located in the Wuxi Graphene Industry Zone in China, has created a graphene-based electrostatic speaker. The speakers are reportedly constructed using graphene resin composite materials, able to produce medium and low bass sounds that conventional metal resin compounds cannot reach. The graphene speaker is also said to be simpler, longer-lasting and cheaper to produce than traditional technology.

Electrostatic speakers sound by vibrating the diaphragm before and after with the action of electrostatic force. It can capture the extremely small changes in the music signal to fully show the nuances of the music. This kind of speaker has already been used in applications like cars, theaters and exhibitions.

Read the full story Posted: Dec 25,2016

Graphene enables a system that can detect cancer cells

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have shown an interfacing system that can differentiate a single cancerous cell from a normal cell using graphene, hopefully opening the door to developing a simple, noninvasive tool for early cancer diagnosis.

The team explains that this graphene system is able to detect the level of activity of an interfaced cell. The cell's interface with graphene rearranges the charge distribution in graphene, which modifies the energy of atomic vibration as detected by Raman spectroscopy. The atomic vibration energy in graphene's structure differs depending on whether it's in contact with a cancer cell or a normal cell, because the cancer cell's hyperactivity leads to a higher negative charge on its surface and the release of more protons.

Read the full story Posted: Dec 20,2016

Versarien enters agreement with Fern Plastic Products to manufacture graphene-enhanced injection moulded products

Versarien announced an agreement with Fern Plastic Products to manufacture injection moulded products using graphene-enhanced polyaryletherketone (PAEK) materials. The agreement with Fern Plastics follows the agreement with Scafell Organics announced earlier this month.

The plan is for Versarien to utilize Fern Plastics' manufacturing facilities and expertise to produce injection moulded products using graphene-enhanced PAEK materials produced through Versarien's collaboration with Scafell.

Read the full story Posted: Dec 20,2016

Looking back into the hottest graphene topics in 2015 - getting ready to summarize 2016

Read the full story Posted: Dec 20,2016

UCF researchers receive $1.3 million from DARPA to develop a graphene-enhanced IR detector

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has reportedly awarded a $1.3 million grant to a team from the University of Central Florida (UCF) to fund the development of a graphene-enhanced next-generation infrared detector that could be used in fields like night vision, meteorology, and space exploration.

The UCF team is working on an entirely new type of detector that relies on graphene. The researchers plan to use graphene to make an infrared detector that is small, portable, doesn't need to be cooled, and produces high-resolution images. Unlike current technologies, which can detect only one band of light, the next-gen detector would be tunable and able to see a range of bands.

Read the full story Posted: Dec 18,2016

Versarien enters agreement with Scalfell Organics to develop graphene-enhanced PAEK materials

Versarien, the advanced materials group, has signed an agreement with polymer chemical producer Scafell Organics to develop graphene-enhanced polyaryletherketone materials (PAEKs). These materials are a family of semi-crystalline thermoplastics with high-temperature stability and high mechanical strength, used in the automotive and aerospace industries.

Versarien reportedly plans to utilize Scafell’s facilities and production expertise to produce graphene enhanced PAEK materials using Versarien supplied graphene nano platelets. It is hoped that these graphene enhanced materials will be available for sale by Versarien through its sales team as well as Scafell’s customers.

Read the full story Posted: Dec 18,2016