Researchers from Korea's KAIST institute in collaboration with researchers from Korea University and the KIMM institute developed a new method to transfer graphene from a metallic substrate to any other substrate without any damage to the graphene. The method is very fast and is not expensive.

Current transfer processes can introduce impurities or even damage pure graphene sheets when the are transferred after being synthesized using CVD. The new method, however, uses heat, an electric field and mechanical pressure to attach the graphene to a new substrate using a strong adhesive force. The metallic substrate is pulled away mechanically.

Tesla's current Model S car has batteries with a capacitance of 85 kWh, which enables the car to drive up to 480 km between charges. The company's CEO, Elon Mask, recently said that the company is developing "new battery technology" that will almost double the capacity - and will allow the cars to drive up to 800 km between charges.

Today, China News Network posts an article saying that Tesla's new battery technology is based on graphene. This makes sense as graphene-based battery electrodes can dramatically increase battery charge time and capacity. There are many companies developing this technology and it's likely that Tesla is collaborating with one (or more of these companies).

Researchers from Seoul National University developed a one-step method to prepare a carbon material (which they call NCF) from used cigarette filters. They used the NCF to create supercapacitor electrodes - which exhibit a better rate capability and higher specific capacitance compared to conventional activated carbon. The capacitance is actually higher than N-doped graphene or N-doped CNT electrodes.

NCF is a nitrogen doped (N-doped) meso-/microporous hybrid carbon material. It is prepared via heating the filters in a nitrogen-containing atmosphere. The filters are made from mostly cellulose acetate fibers, which transform to mesopores and micropores which self-assemble into a unique pore structure.

Researchers from Rice and Osaka Universities discovered a simple method to measure contaminants on graphene sheets using terahertz spectroscopy.

The researchers placed the graphene on a layer of Indium Phosphide, and then used a laser pulse on the graphene. This causes the materials to emit terahertz waves, which can then be used to map contaminants (which change graphene's electrical properties) on the graphene sheet.

Following Grafoid's ALCERECO acquisition (for $1.25 million CAD) a couple of months ago, the company will inaugurate its new R&D facility in Kingston, Ontario (ALCERECO's production site) later this week.

When Grafoid announced the acquisition of the advanced material developer, they said they hope to use ALCERECO's production facility and convert it to MesoGraf graphene production. Grafoid will use graphene ores from Focus Graphite's Lac-Knife mine and exfoliate them to graphene materials.

Researchers from Rice University developed a new chemical process that is used to create a tough, ultra-light foam in any size and shape. The new foam (called GO-0.5BN) is made from two 2D materials: graphene oxide and hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) platelets.

This foam can be used as structural component in applications such as electrodes for supercapacitors and batteries and gas absorption material.

In 2013, researchers from the University of Alberta developed a new low-cost process to turn hemp bast fibers into graphene-like materials. Now the same team reports that those hemp fibers may be as efficient as graphene for supercapacitor electrodes, or even better. Those electrodes are made from bio waste in a simple process, and are much cheaper than graphene based electrodes.

Those fibers come from the inner bark of the hemp plant, which are often discarded. Hemp is a used in Canada to make clothing, construction materials and other products. The researchers explain that to create those fibers, they first had to really understand the structure of the plant and then tune their process which involved heating it for 24 hours at a 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and then blasting it with more intense heat, after which it exfoliates into carbon nanosheets.

Graphene 3D Lab is now a public company, trading in the Canadian TSX stock exchange under the ticker GGG, following the company's reverse-merger with Matnic Resources (whose previous ticker was MIK.V). It's great to see another public graphene company!

Graphene 3D Lab is a joint-venture between Graphene Labs and Lomiko Metals. The company focuses on the development of high-performance graphene-enhanced materials for 3D Printing. Lomiko Metals holds 15% of Graphene 3D Lab (4.4 million shares).

Researchers from the UCLA developed a new graphene-based material that can significantly enhance the energy density of supercapacitors - in fact making them as good as lead acid batteries.

They call the new material holey graphene framework. It is a 3D material that has tiny holes in it. The holey graphene features superior electrical conductivity, exceptional mechanical flexibility and unique hierarchical porosity. This enabled the researchers to create a capacitor that has an unparalleled energy densities of 35 watt hours per kilogram (49 watt hours per liter), which is up to 10 times higher than current commercial supercapacitors.

Researchers from Austria's Vienna University of Technology (VUT) developed a new solar panel structure that results in an efficient, ultra-thin, flexible, transparent and durable panel. The new structure is made from two three-atomic-layers thick films with a layer of graphene in the middle.

The first film is made from a crystal tungsten diselenide, and the second film is molybdenum disulphide. In this design, the tungsten-diselenide layer is the one responsible to convert light into electrical energy. Normally using this material requires numerous tiny metal electrodes, but adding the molybdenium disulphide layer solves this issue.