A trade deal between China and Manchester will aim at graphene-based transportation. Scientists at Manchester University will team up with the Beijing Institute of Aeronautical Materials in a five-year research project that will aim to build graphene-based aircraft and trains.

The Chinese funding, thought to be worth up to £3 million, will be put into the project that will include joint research as well as the exchange of scientists between Beijing and the university’s National Graphene Institute.

William Blythe, Uk-based chemicals manufacturer, has announced the addition of graphene oxide to its portfolio of innovative products. According to the company, this step was made possible when the company moved graphene oxide to large lab scale manufacture and reached kilogram capacity production.

William Blythe is currently able to offer graphene oxide as a dispersion in deionised water. The percentage dispersions are agreed upon with customers on an individual basis. WB's current capabilities allow the manufacture of up to 20 kg of powdered graphene oxide equivalent per annum with the intention of increasing to tonnage scale in the next 6 12 months.

A graphene-enhanced mobile pack was reportedly developed by Chinese mobile network carrier China Telecom, and unveiled in a recent trade show in Guangzhou. The mobile power pack is said to allow for a 10 minute recharge time of mobile devices with a 6000mAh battery. The power pack's price and release date have not yet been announced.

China Telecom's graphene-based pack is said to have relatively lower energy density compared to existing regular power packs. It is also enclosed in aluminum panels to protect the graphene materials. It comes with a USB-A port and supports QC3.0 output (5V3A/9V2A/12V1.5A). The device also has a MircoUSB port offering power up to 5V2.4A. On the bottom of the device sits a DC power jack that supports high-power recharge with 9V-40V and 120W (12V10A).

Researchers at MIT have found a way to make composite materials using large area graphene films, in which large numbers of layers are stacked in an orderly manner, without having to stack each layer individually. This could enable creating composite materials containing hundreds of layers and open the door to various possibilities for designing new, easy-to-manufacture composites for optical devices, electronic systems, and more.

A major obstacle in creating graphene-based composites has been that graphene sheets and particles have a strong tendency to adhere together, so just stirring them into a batch of liquid resin before it sets is inefficient. The new technique could go a long way in solving this - while the process is more complex than it sounds, at the heart of it is a technique similar to that used to make puff pastry common in many desserts. A layer of material — dough, or graphene, in this case — is spread out flat. Then, the material is doubled over on itself, pounded or rolled out, and then doubled over again, and again, and again. With each fold, the number of layers doubles, thus producing an exponential increase in the layering. Just 20 simple folds would produce more than a million perfectly aligned layers.

A vehicle made with graphene in its bodywork has recently been unveiled in Manchester. The car was made by Briggs Automotive Company (BAC) and graphene is said to be used in the car's panels. The BAC Mono spearheads an exhibition to highlight the future of graphene technology.

The BAC Mono has reportedly been road-tested and is being displayed at the National Graphene Institute in Manchester as part of the Science in the City festival from July 22-29. James Baker, graphene business director at The University of Manchester, said: "The graphene car is an excellent example of how graphene can be incorporated into existing products to improve performance".

An international team of researchers working at Penn State University have developed a highly sensitive chemical sensor using nitrogen-doped graphene as a substrate. This technique can detect trace amounts of molecules in a solution at very low concentrations.

A model showing the charge transfer (e-) mechanism of Rhodamine B molecules (top) interacting with N-doped graphene (bottom sheet) when excited with different laser lines, which leads to ultrasensitive molecular sensor with N doped graphene.

Raman spectroscopy was used for the development of this sensor, which is a common identification technique used to detect the unique internal vibrations of various molecules: when a laser light irradiates crystals or molecules, it scatters and shifts colors. That scattered light can be detected in the form of a Raman spectrum, which serves as somewhat of a unique fingerprint for every Raman-active irradiated system. Different colors in the visible spectrum will be associated to different energies.

Researchers at Australia's Griffith University have discovered a fascinating mechanism, that may allow the design of a new class of composite materials for light harvesting and optoelectronics. The team has found a quantum-confined bandgap narrowing mechanism, where UV absorption of the graphene quantum dots and TiO2 nanoparticles can easily be extended into the visible light range.

According to the scientists, real life application of this would be high efficiency paintable solar cells and water purification using sun light. In addition, the team states that "this mechanism can be extremely significant for light harvesting. What's more important is we've come up with an easy way to achieve that, to make a UV absorbing material to become a visible light absorber by narrowing the bandgap."

G³ (Global Graphene Group), a holding company for subsidiaries Angstron Materials, Honeycomb Battery and Nanotek Instruments, announced that it has secured the first $10 million of a Preferred Series A investment from Western & Southern Financial Group, with conditions for a second close of an additional $13 million for a total $23 million Series A investment with Western & Southern as the sole investor.

G³ is engaged in commercializing graphene raw materials, and graphene-enabled applications including nanocomposites, thermal interface materials, and advanced batteries. G3 is headquartered in Dayton with operations in Asia.

Graphene-Info is happy to introduce a new feature: Experts Roundup. We asked several graphene professionals to answer a graphene related question. We hope this will prove to be an interesting read and can help shed light on the nooks and cranks of the graphene industry. Enjoy!

Do you think CVD will ever be a viable way to mass produce commercial graphene sheets?

Gonçalo Gonçalves, product marketing specialist, Aixtron: Chemical vapour deposition has been used for several decades in the semiconductor industry to deposit high-quality thin-films. This technique is known to provide superior process reliability and throughput which are key requirements in the manufacturing of integrated circuits. Since 2004, graphene has emerged as a wonder material with an impressive number of potential applications across several fields. The discovery of a CVD route to produce graphene has also been an important achievement towards the integration of this carbon nanomaterial into semiconductor devices. With the advance of the graphene field from basic to applied research new and more complex challenges arise, especially in the integration reliability. CVD technique will find its way to mass production of graphene once these challenges are addressed and the benefits of graphene in semiconductor devices are unveiled.

Talga Resources has outlined its updated commercialization strategy. It is seeking to unlock early commercialization opportunities based on the production of four specific graphene products for use within targeted industrial markets. The development of these product lines is in addition to the supply of raw graphene and graphite materials which has been the Company’s focus to date.

The new strategy is reportedly a progression made possible by the growth of Talga’s pilot plant facility in Germany. Recent equipment scale up and a significant boost to the Company’s technical team enables this new ‘applied products’ capability and expedited path to associated sources of revenue.