February 2014

UK-based Perpetuus Carbon Technologies announced that it entered the graphene supply market. The company will soon start production of customer-tailored surface modified graphene materials (excellent quality stacked graphene flakes) in its new 100 annual ton facility. The company can provide 50Kb batches within 48 hours and ton-sized orders within 28 days. The price of their graphene materials is £50 ($83) per kilogram.

The company also holds an R&D arm (called Perpetuus Research and Development). The development activities focus on graphene based ink, and also include transparent condcutive films (for ITO replacement), stress strain actuators and printable coatable electrodes for use in lithium Ion batteries.

Researchers from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln developed a chemical process to produce graphene nanoribbons (GNRs). This bottom-up method can be used to produce very narrow GNRs (2 nanometers wide). The researchers say it is easy to scale up their process.

The team is now testing their ribbons for applications in electronics, gas sensors and solar cells. The electronic properties of their GNRs can be tuned by changing the synthetic conditions.

Researchers from MIT, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Saudi Arabia developed a new two-step process that creates subnanoscale pores in graphene. This could enable a cheaper way to create graphene membranes for water purification, desalination and other applications.

The new process starts with a graphene sheet placed on a substrate. The graphene is bombarded with gallium ions, and then etched with an oxidizing solution that reacts strongly with the disrupted carbon bonds and produces a hole (at each spot where the gallium ions hit the graphene). The average size of the hold is determined by how long the graphene sheet is in contact with the oxidizing solution.

Graphenano is now offering a new graphene based paint called Graphenstone. This paint is reportedly super strong and it also acts as a protective layer against environmental damage. Graphenstone is made from a graphene powder and limestone powder.

Graphenano is reportedly producing this new paint in industrial quantities. The company even sent a proposal to Valencia's city to apply the new paint to the city's opera house, that was damaged by heavy winds (only eight years after its completion) and needs fixing. Graphenano says that coating the building with Graphenstone will significantly reduce future repair costs.

The UK's Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) announced it completed Applied Graphene Materials' graphene "demonstration plant". This facility can produce up to 1 ton of graphene nanoplatelets in a year.  

The CPI provided a turn-key design and build service for AGM. Applied Graphene Materials recently raised £10 million by going public in the UK's AIM stock exchange.

UK's GS International (GSI) says that they have been chosen to be the graphite supplier for Norway's Graphene Batteries, a startup that develops graphene-based Li-Ion battery electrodes.

Graphene Batteries reportedly tested over 50 types of graphite before choosing GSI's graphite. GSI is offering high quality natural graphite at $16,000 per ton. GS International, together with the RS Group also aims to become a research partner to Graphene Batteries. The GS Group and GSI also plans to scale-up Graphene Oxide production soon.

Intel's CEO Brian Krzanic participated in Reddit's Ask Me Anything (AMA) session. One of the questions was "how does the development of Graphene change the game for Intel?"

Here's Brian's answer: "Graphene, carbon nano tubes.. and other 3-5 materials will become very important to semiconductors over the next few years... they will allow us to lower leakage and power while reducing geometries."

Researchers from Queen Mary University and the Cambridge Graphene Centre demonstrated that graphene can be used to absorb electromagnetic radiation. This means that graphene coating can be used to stop radio waves from entering cars or buildings.

In their demonstration, the researchers supported a stack of graphene sheets on a metal place and placed it on a quartz substrate. This stacking configuration enabled them to control the interaction between the radio waves and the graphene.

Tagla Resources (an Australian-based graphite, iron and gold miner with prospects in Western Australia and Sweden) and the University of Adelaide have been studying graphite ore from Tagla's wholly-owned Nunasvaara deposit in Sweden. Tagla says that the have made a breakthrough in single-step graphene recovery method. This will allow the company to produce both graphite and cheap graphene from this mine by using a single process.

According to Tagla, this process breakthrough would allow the company to use the unprocessed graphite ore and by-pass intermediate stages. Researchers at the University demonstrated that the quality of the produced graphene is comparable to graphene produced synthetically. This new process can be scaled up commercially.

Researchers from the Universities of California and Michigan suggest coating artificial hearts with a catalyst that can help against blood clotting which is a problem for many artificial heart patients that have to rely on blood-thinning drugs (anticoagulants) to stop the clotting.

The catalyst interacts with the blood to convert glucose and L-arginine amino acid to create ntroxyl which prevents blood clots. The catalysts are attached to graphene flakes. Those graphene flakes are key elements in this design as it improves the function of the catalyst and also allows it to be dissolved in water. The graphene flakes are not rejected by the body and are not damaged by the catalyst.