Graphene-Info: the graphene experts

First Graphene is collaborating with Flinders University to launch 2D Fluidics - a company that will aim to commercialize the Vortex Fluidic Device (VFD). 2D Fluidics is 50% owned by FGR and 50% by Flinders University’s newly named Flinders Institute for NanoScale Science and Technology.

The VFD was invented by the Flinders Institute for NanoScale Science and Technology’s Professor Colin Raston and enables new approaches to producing a wide range of materials such as graphene and sliced carbon nanotubes. The key intellectual property used by 2D Fluidics comprises two patents around the production of carbon nanomaterials, assigned by Flinders University.

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Haydale, the global advanced materials group, has announced that strong commercial progress has been made with an unspecified global composite materials group to enhance mechanical properties for selected products in their range of materials, through a commercially funded contract.

Over the last 12 months, Haydale has completed a series of pre-production trials for this customer (who for commercial reasons cannot be named) to enhance these selected products' mechanical performance through the incorporation of graphene in a range of world-wide industrial applications. Haydale reports that to date, it has been paid approximately $150,000 USD by the Customer for these trials.

University of Arkansas researchers are working together, with support from the National Institutes of Health, to make that prospect of graphene-based sensors that sequence a patient's genome to predict diseases more realistic. Steve Tung, professor of mechanical engineering, and Jin-Woo Kim, professor of biological engineering, have received a grant (of approximately $400,000) from the NIH's Human Genome Research Institute to develop nanoscale technology designed to make DNA sequencing faster, cheaper and easier.

The base of the research builds on the concept of nanochannel measurement, in which individual strands of DNA pass through a tiny channel. The passage of those strands interrupts an electrical current and a sensor detects the nature of the interruption, telling scientists which nucleotide has passed through the channel.

In December 2017, Manchester University teamed up with British sportswear brand Inov-8 to become the world's first company to incorporate graphene into running and fitness shoes. Now, Inov-8 announced a new shoe that features graphene, which are hoped to be "a game changer in the industry".

The Ultimate goal will be to reduce the weight of running shoes by 50%, according to Michael Price, Inov-8’s product and marketing director. The company announced The G-Series range which includes three different shoes – two trail-oriented shoes and one geared for cross-training. The Company estimates that the TerraUltra G 260 will likely be the most popular in Canada – it’s geared for more strenuous trail efforts. The Mudclaw G 260 is geared for extra muddy terrain and obstacle courses. Finally the F-Lite G 290 has been developed for cross-fit athletes to wear in the gym. Each shoe includes graphene-enhanced rubber outsoles and breathable mesh uppers that are enforced with Kevlar.

Researchers at the Institute of Energy and Climate Research (IEK-1) in Germany have developed a material comprising tin oxide nanoparticles enriched with antimony, on a base layer of graphene, that can reportedly triple the capacity of a battery cell and dramatically cut the charging time.

"An important factor is the anode material," said Prof Dina Fattakhova-Rohlfing from the Institute of Energy and Climate Research (IEK-1), who led the research. "In principle, anodes based on tin dioxide can achieve much higher specific capacities, and therefore store more energy, than the carbon anodes currently being used. They have the ability to absorb more lithium ions. Pure tin oxide, however, exhibits very weak cycle stability - the storage capability of the batteries steadily decreases and they can only be recharged a few times. The volume of the anode changes with each charging and discharging cycle, which leads to it crumbling."

Researchers from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) in Russia and Tohoku University in Japan have explained the phenomenon of particle-antiparticle annihilation in graphene, recognized by specialists as Auger recombination.

Two scenarios of electron-hole recombination in graphene: radiative recombination (left) and Auger recombination (right) in which the energy is picked up by an electron passing by

Despite persistently being spotted in experiments, it was thought to be prohibited by the fundamental physical laws of energy and momentum conservation. The theoretical explanation of this process has until recently remained one of the greatest puzzles of solid-state physics.