Scientists at the UK's University of Sunderland are leading Task 10.11 Composites for Automotive, part of the European Commission’s Future and Emerging Technology Flagship. The project is exploring how graphene could be used to create lighter, stronger, safer and more energy-efficient applications and parts for the automotive market.

The University of Sunderland is leading a consortium of five research partners from Italy, Spain and Germany that have been conducting a series of tests with support from Centro Ricerche CRF of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles over the last two years. Graphene was embedded into a polymer and mixed with traditional carbon fiber or glass fiber structural material, to test as the bumper of a car, and allowed the researchers to reduce the thickness of the structural components.

Researchers led by the CNR-Nanoscience Institute in Modena, Italy, and the University of Strasbourg in France, have experimentally observed light emission from individual graphene nanoribbons for the first time. They demonstrated that 7-atom-wide nanoribbons emit light at a high intensity that is comparable to bright light-emitting devices made from carbon nanotubes, and that the color can be tuned by adjusting the voltage. These findings may open the door to the development of bright graphene-based light sources.

Experimentally, there have been only a few demonstrations of light emission from graphene nanoribbons, and these have been limited to ensembles of nanoribbons and revealed only weak light emission. So the results of the new study, which show a much brighter light emitted by individual graphene nanoribbons compared to ensembles, hint at the exciting potential of graphene's optical properties.

Sweden-based 2D Fab AB recently entered into a collaboration agreement with a "technology leader in the energy storage market segment". 2D Fab AB states that it sees very large future volumes of graphene in these areas, and that it has already had good cooperation within the polymer area. "It is therefore very pleasing that we have now found an innovative industrial partner in thermal conductivity".

The collaboration agreement dictated that the Company will also evaluate different strategies for production and delivery scale up. In addition, it gives the opportunity to build relationships with an important and "potentially very large customer". The agreement is ongoing, with customs tollgates every 6 months.

Saint Jean Carbon, a carbon science company focused on the development of green energy storage, creation and re-creation through the use of carbon materials, has announced that it has completed the design build of the research and development facility located in Oakville Ontario, Canada. The facility was established to process raw material directly to anode material and actual anodes in the near future.

The main purpose of the facility is to produce the very best quality graphite for a host of applications; lithium-ion batteries for electric cars, tools, cell phones, etc. As well as applications including, solar panels, graphene for use in fabric inks, wearable technologies, safety, health care and a vast array of other high tech applications.

Dotz Nano, a nano-technology company focusing on the development, manufacture and commercialization of graphene quantum dots (GQDs), recently announced that it has completed a capital raising for proceeds of AUD $3.8 million (almost $3 million USD) before costs.

The Placement was reportedly heavily oversubscribed, with settlement of the Placement to occur in two tranches. The funds will be used as working capital to fund the Company’s commercialization activities.

2017 has been a busy year for graphene and we are seeing clear indications that graphene adoption and commercialization is finally underway across many industries. Here are 2017's top 10 graphene applications, ranked by the number of posts written about them:

• Graphene batteries
• Graphene sensors
• Graphene composites
• Medicine related applications
• Graphene supercapacitors
• Graphene electronics
• Graphene coating
• Graphene membranes
• Graphene for automotive
• Graphene water treatment

We look forward to keeping you up-to-date on all that is graphene in 2018!

Researchers at the University of Sussex have developed a graphene-based sensor with the potential to prevent sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) cases. The sensor is shaped like a flexible rubber tube filled with a solution of water, oil and particles graphene.

the sensors were said to be the most sensitive liquid-based devices to have ever been developed. Utilizing graphene's conductivity, the solution inside the tube conducts electricity. When the tube is stretched by even a tiny amount, the conductivity also changes and this change can be detected, indicating that movement (such as the rising and falling of a breathing person's chest) is occurring.

Graphenea reports a successful 2017, with an impressive $1.9 million in sales revenue and a number of milestones. The company reveals that production volumes were expanded for both its staple products graphene oxide and CVD graphene. A 1 tonne per year (tpa) graphene oxide production plant has been established at Graphenea's location in San Sebastian, Spain, where new CVD graphene growth and transfer systems for 100 mm (4) and 150 mm (6) diameter wafers have been installed. Equipment for 200 mm (8) is expected soon.

The increase of production quantity was reportedly accompanied with an enhanced focus on quality and compliance - the graphene oxide product was pre-registered with the European Chemical Agency (REACH pre-registration), a necessary administrative step for producers that sell more than 1 tpa of any chemical. CVD graphene is now produced in a class 1000 clean-room, leading to record-high carrier mobility. Graphenea has also been awarded with an ISO 9001 certificate for Quality Management System.

Dotz Nano has signed an exclusive three-year distribution and sales agreement to sell $15 million USD of its graphene quantum dots to joint venture China Israel (hengqin) Science Technology Innovation Center (CisticPoly). The company’s 100%-owned subsidiary Dotz Nano (Israel) secured the contract which will generate at least $2.5 million USD this year.

Pending product specification approvals, CisticPoly will distribute the graphene quantum dots into China. Subject to approvals, in the first 12 months, CisticPoly will purchase at least $2.5 million in graphene quantum dots, with the second milestone comprising purchases amounting to $7.5 million within 24 months and $15 million by 36 months.

Researchers at The University of Manchester have developed graphene sensors embedded into RFIDs, which may have the potential to revolutionize the Internet of Things (IoT). The team layered graphene-oxide over graphene to create a flexible heterostructures that function as humidity sensors for remote sensing with the ability to connect to any wireless network.

The novel aspect of this development is that such sensors can be printed layer-by-layer for scalable mass production at very low costs. The device also requires no battery source as it harvests power from the receiver.