Graphene-Info: the graphene experts

planarTECH recently launched its 2AM graphene-enhanced face masks, in collaboration with ideati. The company (which is now in the last two days of its successful crowdfunding financing round in our Graphene Crowdfunding Arena) was kind enough to send us a few samples of the masks for a short hands-on review.

The face mask has a design that uses a unique graphene and other carbon nanomaterials coatings that takes advantage of the graphene antibacterial and antistatic properties. The coating has been certified by the Thailand Textile Institute to reduce staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 6538) bacteria by 99.95% within a 24 hour period, and it also repels dust. The mask is washable and reusable (up to 10 times).

UK-based start-up Payper Technologies is using graphene to provide the restaurant industry with a new pay-at-table technology.

Graphene antennas are printed on paper to enable customers to pay their bill by tapping their smartphone on the receipt. The process is said to take two clicks and under five seconds, without the need to download an app, by using existing Apple Pay or Google Pay.

Australia-based battery graphene anode producer Talga has entered an agreement with European lithium-ion battery giant Farasis Energy Europe (Farasis). Talga will supply coated anode products for evaluation in Farasis batteries.

Talga sources its graphene and graphite in the north of Sweden, from where the company produces coated ‘active’ anode products which it will now, according to their agreement, supply to Farasis.

The Graphene Flagship has announced 16 New FLAG-ERA projects, that cover a broad range of topics, from fundamental to applied research. These projects which will become Partnering Projects of the Graphene Flagship – receiving around €11 million in funding overall.

Bringing together a diverse range of European knowledge and expertise, FLAG-ERA is an ERA-NET (European Research Area Network) initiative that aims to create synergies between new research projects and the Graphene Flagship and Human Brain Project.

Researchers from Seoul National University have examined graphene quantum dots' (GQDs') efficiency as anti-inflammatory therapy for colitis. The team speculated that graphene quantum dots may be suitable for treating intestinal bowel diseases (IBDs) because of their low toxicity in vivo and ease of clearance.

In their study, GQDs were intraperitoneally injected to dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)–induced chronic and acute colitis model, and its efficacy has been confirmed. In particular, GQDs effectively prevented tissue degeneration and ameliorated intestinal inflammation.

First Graphene (FGR) has entered into a two-year supply agreement with planarTECH to supply materials for the manufacture of personal protective equipment (PPE).

The companies reported that requirements of an initial testing phase have been met and planarTECH will now incorporate First Graphene's materials into the manufacture of protective masks.

Researchers at the Graphene Integrated Functional Technologies (GIFT) Research Cluster at Queen’s University in Canada have developed a novel graphene-based flexible hybrid battery–supercapacitor device.

The device consists of high specific surface area electrodes paired with an electrolyte, which contains a redox species that can exist in more than two oxidation states. The two initially equal half-cells of the device consist of a reduced graphene oxide hydrogel which encapsulates vanadium ions, synthesized with a single-step method.