Video

Here's a nice short film (produced at Cambridge University) showing what's graphene's all about:

Researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have discovered that graphene foam can outperform leading commercial gas sensors in detecting potentially dangerous and explosive chemicals. The foam is made from several graphene sheets (grown on Nickel, which was later removed) and is flexible, rugged and retains graphene's important properties.

The new sensor successfully and repeatedly measured ammonia (NH3) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) at concentrations as small as 20 parts-per-million. The graphene foam sensor is about the size of a postage stamp and the thickness of felt. Here's a video discussing the production method of the graphene foam:

Researchers from the University of Silesia in Poland are looking into using Graphene and Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) to remove excess cholesterol from living tissues. Using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, the team says that a graphene sheet (of 720 carbon atoms), placed 2.3 nm from cholesterol-covered 1LQV protein significantly increased the mobility of the cholesterol molecules, reflecting their migration onto the graphene surface. After this migration, a large number of cholesterol molecules were removed from the cluster surrounding the protein.

Dr. Wlodzimierz Strupinski from the Institute of Electronics Materials Technology says that he developed an efficient and cheap method of harvesting Graphene, using commercially available equipment. The new method relies on the crystallization of carbon from an outer source, which means the carbon is settled down in the form of a one or two atom thick layer on the surface. That's an adaptation of an existing process called epitaxy, which may lead to commercial scale production - as he uses standard commercial machinery.

Researchers from Rice University had a meeting in which they discussed the possibility of making graphene out of sugar. Chemist James Tour said you can actually make it from any carbon source - including a girl scout cookie. So they dared him to do it - and he did, inviting a troop of Houston Girl Scouts to see how it's done:

Tour says that a 2"x2" graphene costs about $250 today - and from one box of cookies you could make a 157,800m² graphene sheet - which will be worth over $15 billion ($15,290,697,674 to be exact...).

Researchers from Rice University created thin hybrid metal-graphene electrodes - that outperform ITO electrodes, are also more transparent and less resistance to electric current. These electrodes can be used to create non-glass touch displays, transparent and flexible OLEDs, solar cells and lighting products.

The new electrode is a thin film of single-layer graphene and a fine grid of metal nanowire. It's basically a hybrid-graphene electrode. The metal is used to enhance the conductivity at the required transparency. The metal grid strengthens the graphene, and the graphene fills all the empty spaces between the grid. The researchers found a grid of five-micron nanowires made of inexpensive, lightweight aluminum did not detract from the material's transparency.

Andre Geim from the University of Manchester UK (the 2010 Nobel prize in Physics winner) gives a great lecture on Graphene - starting with an introduction and then giving updates from their latest research: