Graphene-Info: the graphene experts

An international research team, led by the University of Cologne, has succeeded in connecting several atomically precise graphene nanoribbons to form complex structures. The scientists have synthesized and spectroscopically characterized nanoribbon heterojunctions, and were able to integrate the heterojunctions into an electronic component. In this way, they have created a novel sensor that is highly sensitive to atoms and molecules.

"The graphene nanoribbon heterojunctions used to make the sensor are each seven and fourteen carbon atoms wide and about 50 nanometres long. What makes them special is that their edges are free of defects. This is why they are called "atomically precise" nanoribbons," explained Dr. Boris Senkovskiy from the Institute for Experimental Physics. The researchers connected several of these nanoribbon heterojunctions at their short ends, thus creating more complex heterostructures that act as tunneling barriers.

High-performance clothing brand 878 developed a new smart sailing jacket, called Project One. The jacket utilizes graphene-enhanced materials to enable high flexibility and weatherproofing while still being extremely lightweight.

The jacket also features a small flexible E Ink display produced by Plastic Logic. The display is connected to your boat's systems via Bluetooth to show navigational and other kinds of information.

HydroGraph Clean Power, a Canada-based company that was formed to fund and commercialize green, cost-effective processes to manufacture graphene, hydrogen and other strategic materials in bulk, has announced that it has closed a private placement for gross proceeds of CAD$6,505,000 (over USD$5,372,000) led by PowerOne Capital Markets Limited and Haywood Securities. HydroGraph is in the process of pursuing a direct listing on the Canadian Securities Exchange.

The proceeds of the Financing will enable HydroGraph to commercialize its patented hydrogen and graphene manufacturing technology and market the end products. The Company is building a new commercial manufacturing facility which will be able to mass-produce HydroGraph’s competitive, high quality, green products.

Last month, Australia-based Graphene Manufacturing Group (GMG) announced a research agreement with the University of Queensland’s Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (“AIBN”) for the development of graphene aluminum-ion batteries. Now, GMG has shared the initial performance data when tested in coin cells for the patent-pending surface perforation of graphene in aluminium-ion batteries developed by the Company and the University of Queensland (“UQ”). Currently, GMG Graphene is producing coin cell prototypes for customer testing in Q4 2021.

Under the recently announced agreement, GMG will manufacture commercial battery prototypes for watches, phones, laptops, electric vehicles and grid storage with technology developed at UQ. GMG has also signed a license agreement with Uniquest, the University of Queensland commercialization company, which provides GMG an exclusive license of the technology for battery cathodes.

In 2018, Sunrise Energy Metals (SRL) and Ionic Industries partnered up and established a JV called NematiQ to develop graphene oxide (GO) membranes for water treatment applications. SRL initially had a 75% stake in the joint venture, before increasing its interest to 83.2% in 2020. Now, SRL announced its plan to take full ownership of NematiQ.

NematiQ has developed a process for manufacturing GO, which can be applied to a membrane support to create a graphene oxide-based nanofiltration membrane (GO-Membrane). The GO-Membrane manufacturing process has reportedly already been demonstrated on commercial-scale industrial equipment.

Penn State researchers have designed a graphene-based way to make encrypted keys harder to crack, in an attempt to protect data in an age where more and more private data is stored and shared digitally. Current silicon technology exploits microscopic differences between computing components to create secure keys, but the team explains that artificial intelligence (AI) techniques can be used to predict these keys and gain access to data.

Image credit: Jennifer McCann/Penn State

Led by Saptarshi Das, assistant professor of engineering science and mechanics, the researchers used graphene to develop a novel low-power, scalable, reconfigurable hardware security device with significant resilience to AI attacks.

Researchers from Zhejiang University, Xi'an Jiaotong University and Monash University have developed a way to bind multiple strands of graphene oxide together, creating a process that could prove useful in manufacturing complex architectures.

Reversible fusion and fission of GO fibers. Credit: Science

In recent years, materials scientists have been exploring the possibility of making products using total or partial self-assembly as a way to produce them faster or at less cost. In biological systems where two materials self-assemble into a third material, scientists describe this as a fusion process. Accordingly, when a single material spontaneously separates into two or more other materials, they refer to it as a fission process. In this new work, the researchers have developed a technique for creating graphene-oxide-based yarn that exploits both processes.