Graphene-Info: the graphene experts

Researchers at the University of Glasgow in Scotland have developed an electronic “skin” that can generate and store electricity for prosthetic devices.

The technology consists of layers of a finely tuned graphite-polyurethane composite covered by graphene. The team explained that the graphite-polyurethane works as an electric supercapacitor, storing energy that can be used at any time by a prosthetic. The graphene component is said to essentially be a solar panel that converts sunlight to electricity to charge the supercapacitor.

On April 10-11, Berlin will host IdTechEx's annual Graphene & 2D Materials Europe event, as part of its Printed Electronics Europe. The Graphene-Info team will visit this event, so if anyone wishes to schedule a meeting - now is a great time to do so!

The graphene & 2D materials event is co-located with eight other events focused on printed & flexible electronics, energy storage, electric vehicles, energy harvesting, internet of things, wearables and sensors.

Aiming to ramp up their international operations, Urbix Resources will reportedly work with Hanoi-based Vietnam Graphite Group to build a 70,000 tonne purification plant in Vietnam. The Vietnamese purification plant will be situated within VGG’s graphite mining operations in North Western Vietnam and will serve customers in Japan and the surrounding region.

The facility is scheduled for stage one completion in late 2020. It is anticipated the purification plant will have the capability of achieving revenues exceeding US $200 million annually once the second stage is completed the following year. It appears that the plant will be used to produce, among other materials, graphene oxide and graphene nanoplatelets.

Haydale is working alongside Swansea University, GTS Flexibles, Alliance Labels, Tectonic International, ScreenTec, Alliance Labels, Malvern Panalytical and the English Institute of Sport on a Welsh Government SMART Expertise program.

The program, funded by the Welsh Government as part of its European Development Fund, is intended to benefit industry in Wales through the development of new concepts and advanced functionalized inks using Haydale’s advanced materials.

The labs of Rice University chemist James Tour and Christopher Arnusch, a professor at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel, introduced a batch of graphene-enhanced composites that can be a step towards more robust packages.

By infusing laser-induced graphene with plastic, rubber, cement, wax or other materials, the lab made composites with a wide range of possible applications. These new composites could be used in wearable electronics, in heat therapy, in water treatment, in anti-icing and deicing work, in creating antimicrobial surfaces and even in making resistive random-access memory devices.

Arcadia developed a new field watch that uses graphene coating. The Arcadia G1.0 Graphene Field Watch has been launched on crowdfunding site Kickstarter. The analog watch itself is based on a Citizen Miyota 2035 quartz movement and sports a carbon-fiber patterned leather band. The graphene field watch costs $349.

Arcadia developed its own proprietary graphene-based coating (branded as DuraPhene) which is mechanically and thermally sealed to the watch's stainless steel substrate. Arcadia will offer this coating to third-parties and sees potential applications in oil field equipment, solar panels, lifetime products, marine products and more. Arcadia says that DuraPhene Coating features corrosion protection and is wear and abrasion resistance in addition to being anti-microbial and anti-glare.

LifeSaver, a UK-based manufacturer of portable and reusable water filtration systems, has announced an exclusive contract with the National Graphene Institute (NGI) at The University of Manchester.

The 18-month research project will focus on developing graphene technology that can be used for enhanced water filtration, with the goal of creating a proprietary and patented, cutting-edge product capable of eliminating an even wider range of hazardous contaminants than currently removed by its existing high-performance ultra-filtration process.