Haydale, the global advanced materials group, has filed a patent application in the UK for a its PATit anti-counterfeiting technology, which uses proprietary software codes and a specialty graphene-based, transparent conductive ink. The graphene-based ink can be printed onto products and then ‘read’ by a device to prove their authenticity

The advanced materials group stated that it wants to initially target the anti-counterfeiting market as it is expected to double over the next four years to be worth more than US$200 billion by 2021. Haydale added that the filing of the application is an important in allowing it to begin discussions on potential commercial applications of the technology.

Researchers at the University of Arkansas, led by professor Paul Thibado, have found strong evidence that the internal motion of 2D materials could be used as a source of clean, limitless energy. The team has reportedly taken the first steps toward creating a device that can turn this energy into electricity, with the potential for many applications. A patent has recently been applied on this invention, called a Vibration Energy Harvester, or VEH.

The team studied the internal movements of carbon atoms in graphene and observed two distinct features: small Brownian motion and larger, coordinated movements. In these larger movements, the entire ripple buckled, flipping up and down like a thin piece of metal being repeatedly flexed. This pattern of small random motion combined with larger sudden movements is known as Lévy flights. This phenomenon can be observed in a variety of contexts, such as biomedical signals, climate dynamics, and more. Thibado is claimed to be the first to have observed these flights spontaneously occurring in an inorganic atomic-scale system.

Researchers at India's Institute of Nano Science and Technology (INST) have developed a new route for the scalable preparation of large area few-layer graphene from waste biomass (nutshells) for high-performance energy storage devices.

The team's objective of using biomass-waste is not only to solve the problem of waste recycling but also to generate value-added materials like conductive graphene for renewable energy storage devices such as supercapacitors. The Peanut shell-derived graphene is said to possess remarkably high specific surface area (2070 m2 g−1) and excellent specific capacitance. This method is reportedly scalable, renewable and cost-effective.

Versarien, the advanced materials engineering group, has announced that it has now started collaborating with one of the world’s largest consumer goods groups to enable both groups to work together on research, development and testing of Versarien's proprietary Nanene few layer graphene nano-platelets in polymer structures.

The Partner has provided its first Nanene purchase order to Versarien. The Nanene will be incorporated into polymer structures, primarily for packaging applications, for testing and evaluation, with a view to improving material strength, moisture control and recyclability.

PPG, longtime developer of paints, coatings and other materials, has announced it has entered into a partnership with SiNode Systems, an advanced materials company developing silicon-graphene materials for next-gen batteries, to accelerate the commercialization of high-energy anode materials for advanced battery applications in electric vehicles.

The 30-month project will focus on the development and demonstration of anode materials that will store more energy than conventional lithium-ion battery materials, enabling electric vehicles to travel farther on a single charge or to have a lighter-weight battery. The project will focus on improving the stability and scalability of SiNode’s anode materials to meet or exceed USABC targets for a battery’s active materials, which store the energy. Raymor Industries (that recently secured a $2.3 million grant from the Canadian government to integrate graphene into lithium-ion batteries) will provide graphene to PPG, which will then prepare the material for SiNode. PPG will help both Raymor and SiNode scale up their manufacturing processes to production volumes to support the project.

The first UK-China Graphene Standardization Cooperation Working Group Conference, recently held in Chongqing, China, brought news of an agreement to collaborate on developing and submitting a co-authored International Organization for Standardization (ISO) proposal by February 2018. This joins other recent graphene standardization efforts, like NPL & NGI's good practice guide for graphene metrology and NPL's first ISO (International Organization for Standardization) graphene standard.

Research institutes across the world are pursuing the commercialization of graphene. However, the lack of well-established international standards could slow down the speed of adoption, lead to costly duplication and competition that hinders trade. This collaboration on graphene standards will aim to reduce technical barriers to trade and joint R&D in an area that is a strength for both countries with huge market potential.

Researchers from Spain's ICN2 institute have discovered that graphene/TMDC heterostructures can exhibit etremely long spin relaxation lifetime. These structure feature lifetimes that are orders of magnitude larger than anything observed in 2D materials - and in fact these results point to a qualitatively new regime of spin relaxation.

Spin relaxation lifetime means that time it takes for the spin of electrons in a spin current to lose their spin (return to the natural random disordered state). A long lifetime is very important for spintronics devices. This new study reveals that the rate at which spins relax in graphene/TMDC systems depends strongly on whether they are pointing in or out of the graphene plane, with out-of-plane spins lasting tens or hundreds of times longer than in-plane spins.

NanoXplore recently reported that Martinrea International has made an investment in the Company and has become a shareholder of NanoXplore following participation in the equity financing which closed on August 2nd, 2017. Both companies have been working on product development since.

Martinrea is an international auto parts manufacturer with more than 14,000 employees at over 50 manufacturing and engineering facilities in North America, South America, Europe and Asia. Martinrea produces parts and assemblies, modules, fluid-management systems and offers lightweighting solutions, primarily for the automotive sector.

Researchers at the National Graphene Institute and School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science at The University of Manchester have developed an ultra-thin membrane using graphene-oxide sheets, that were assembled in a way that they were able to completely remove various organic dyes, dissolved in methanol, which were as small as a nanometre. This is exciting as GO membranes were once thought to be permeable only to aqueous solutions, but the researchers developed a new form of graphene oxide membrane that can filter organic solvents.

In the newly developed ultrathin membranes, graphene-oxide sheets are assembled in such a way that pinholes formed during the assembly are interconnected by graphene nanochannels, which produces an atomic-scale sieve allowing the large flow of solvents through the membrane. When used to filter Cognac and whisky, the membrane permitted alcohol to pass through but trapped the larger molecules that gives the whisky its color. Professor Nair, which led the group, said that "the clear whisky smells similar to the original whisky but we are not allowed to drink it in the lab, however it was a funny Friday night experiment!

Researchers from Empa and ETH Zürich have used graphene, waste graphite and scrap metal to make low-cost batteries.

The researchers’ ambitious goal at Empa is to make a battery out of the most common elements in the Earth’s crust such as magnesium or aluminum. These metals offer a high degree of safety, even if the anode is made of pure metal. This also offers the opportunity to assemble the batteries in a very simple and inexpensive way and to rapidly upscale the production. To make such batteries work, the liquid electrolyte needs to consist of special ions that do not crystallize at room temperature. The researchers were looking for a suitable cathode material, and decided to turn the principle of the lithium ion battery upside down.