An international study conducted by the CSIC (the Spanish National Research Council) has successfully demonstrated for the first time the possibility of Majorana particles in graphene. Majorana particles, also known as Majorana fermions, are interesting since they could be both matter and antimatter. This discovery may represent a breakthrough in the field of quantum computing.

In this theoretical study, the researchers claim that if a layer of graphene is subjected to high magnetic fields and is coupled to a superconducting material, then it is possible to form Majorana particles. The scientists explain that when graphene is subjected to high magnetic fields, electrons are completely unemployed in the whole sample except at the edges. They have shown that by inducing superconductivity those electrons edge become Majorana states.

Scientists at the Swiss EPFL and the University of Geneva took advantage of the fact that graphene is both transparent and opaque to radiation to develop a microchip that filters out unwanted radiation. The device, called an optical isolator, works in the terahertz gap. In the future, this graphene-based microchip can be an essential building block for faster wireless telecommunications in frequency bands that current mobile devices cannot access, and devices that use the chip to communicate via the terahertz bandwidth could transmit data ten times faster than current devices.

The scientists explain that the new microchip is effective because three layers of graphene filter out unwanted radiation. It works in a similar way to polarized sunglasses, by only letting certain radiation through, depending on the signal’s direction and orientation.

A collaboration between the A*STAR Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States has proposed a versatile, directional graphene-based X-ray source that potentially could fit on a laboratory bench.

An X-ray source that is both small and powerful is a highly desirable concept. The researchers wanted to create something that is compact and also capable of producing very intense X-rays, essentially implementing the concept behind the enormous free-electron-laser sources on a scale small enough to fit on a laboratory table or even a microchip. For this purpose, the team utilized graphene's ability to support plasmons — collections of electronic oscillations that can be used to confine and manipulate light on scales of around ten nanometers. The scientists explain that Graphene plasmons are a natural option because they are capable of confining electromagnetic radiation to very small scales.

Researchers at the Ocean University of China in Qingdao and Yunnan Normal University in Kunming developed a highly efficient dye-sensitized solar cell coated with a film of graphene, that makes for an all-weather solar cell that is triggered by both sunlight and raindrops. The results of this study may help eliminate a major disadvantage of solar cells - the fact that they produce no power when it's raining.

The researchers used graphene electrodes to obtain power from the impact of raindrops. Raindrops are not pure water, as they contain salts that dissociate into positive and negative ions. The positively charged ions, including sodium, calcium, and ammonium ions, can bind to the graphene surface. At the point of contact between the raindrop and the graphene, the water becomes enriched with positive ions and the graphene becomes enriched in delocalized electrons. This results in a double-layer made of electrons and positively charged ions, a feature known as a pseudocapacitor. The difference in potential associated with this phenomenon is sufficient to produce a voltage and current.

A research group at the Swedish Chalmers University will collaborate with a group from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, on the synthesis and characterization of graphene-polymer composites for solar cell applications. The collaborative project will be funded by the Swedish Research Council through the motto Swedish Research Links, and continues 20 years of collaboration between the two universities.

The role of the polymer will be to harvest the energy from the sun, with graphene as the conductive part of the solar cell. Today, commonly used materials for conduction are fullerenes which, like graphene, are a kind of crystallized carbon. The problem with fullerenes, however, is that they are expensive and also are not stable enough to work efficiently in solar cells.

Researchers at Kansas State University have created a paper-like battery with an electrode made from silicon oxycarbide-glass and graphene, that could develop better tools for space exploration or unmanned aerial vehicles. The electrode is said to be over 10% lighter than other battery electrodes and features close to 100% cycling efficiency for more than 1,000 charge discharge cycles. It’s also made from inexpensive materials that are byproducts of the silicone industry, and it functions at temperatures as low as -15 C which can accommodate several aerial and space applications.

The research team addressed the challenges that arise when trying to incorporate graphene and silicon into practical batteries, like low capacity per volume, poor cycling efficiency and chemical-mechanical instability, by manufacturing a self-supporting and ready-to-go electrode that consists of a glassy ceramic called silicon oxycarbide sandwiched between large platelets of chemically modified graphene, or CMG. The electrode has a high capacity of approximately 600 miliampere-hours per gram — 400 miliampere-hours per cubic centimeter — that is derived from silicon oxycarbide. The paperlike design is made of 20% chemically modified graphene platelets.

Group NanoXplore, a Canada-based company specializing in the production and application of graphene and its derivative materials, announced that it has added graphene-enhanced plastics to its product offering. Compounded pellets for different grades of Polyethylene (PE) and Polycarbonate (PC) are already available and additional plastics are to soon follow.

NanoXplore has a capacity of 400 metric tons per year of compounded master batch pellets. The company has been taking orders and sampling pellets to customers in Europe and North America since January 2016, and it has been focusing recently on polyethylene (PE) thermoplastics and has obtained significant multi-functional improvements in performance compared to base resins. For HDPE at 0.5 weight% graphene loading, a 15% increase in tensile strength was achieved without degrading material toughness. For LLDPE at 15 weight% graphene loading, thermal conductivity was doubled, yield strength increased by more than 30%, and electrical conductivity was increased to the anti-static range.

XG Sciences aims to raise $24 million through an initial public offering to fund operations, as it continues to commercialize composite materials for lithium-ion batteries and other applications. Of the $24 million XGS hopes to raise through an IPO, $11.4 million will go to fund operations for the next two years, by which time the company might begin generating positive cash flow from operations. Proceeds from the IPO would also go to working capital, and to increase capacity and its sales and technical service staff.

While the company has accumulated operating losses exceeding $43 million during its development stage, the securities filing cites a growing customer list and order volume. XG Sciences projects 2016 revenues of $5 million to $10 million through the sale of graphene and graphene nanoplatelets for electronic and industrial products that use lithium-ion batteries. A number of companies are currently testing XG Sciences’ materials for applications including lithium-ion batteries, supercapacitors, thermal shielding, inks and coatings, printed electronics, construction products, composites and military uses.