In 2013, Rice University researchers developed a simple method to reduce coal into graphene quantum dots (GQDs). Now the researchers combined these GQDs with small graphene oxide (GO) sheets to create an excellent catalyst for fuel-cells.

To create the new materials, the researchers boiled a solution of GQDs and GO sheets - which combined them into self-assembling platelets. Treating those platelets with nitrogen and boron created a material with an abundance of edges for chemical reactions (for oxygen reduction), and excellent conductivity.

Researchers from Penn State University developed a new ultra-thin and super strong material that is made from the same hexagonal rings of bonded carbon atoms that make up diamonds. The so called diamond nanothreads may prove to be the strongest man-made material ever developed.

The new material was produced using a pressure device to compress an especially large 6 mm wide pool of benzene (a carbon and hydrogen molecule). The benzene molecules broke under the pressure, and when the pressure was released, they formed the diamond configuration of the nanothreads.

Investment group Alpha Deal Group started covering Lomiko Metals (TSXV: LMR), stating that Lomiko is a "uniquely positioned junior graphite resource company and graphene technology incubator company". Alpha sees Lomiko's value being 166% higher than it's current market price.

Lomiko's current market cap is C$10.24 million. Lomiko holds 4.4 million shares (11.23% interest) of Graphene 3D Labs (TSXV: GGG) - which is worth C$5.85, and Lomiko has cash and equivalents worth a further C$4.86 million. So the company is worth less than its holdings and cash - while in addition it holds the Quatre Mills Graphite property and the Vines Lake property, and has a strategic alliance agreement with Graphene 3D Lab to access technology.