In July 2017, Applied Graphene Materials partnered with HMG Paints to develop and commercialize graphene-containing coatings for a variety of industries. Now, the two companies announced that they are continuing to work together and are progressing towards commercialization of the formulation in a range of protective and anti-corrosion coatings.

Following an initial stage of controlled environment testing, which reportedly produced some extremely positive results, the two companies are now testing their products in real world environments. Tests are initially focused on the application of graphene-enhanced coatings in both the commercial vehicle and construction equipment markets.

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory are part of a scientific collaboration that has identified a new electrocatalyst that efficiently converts CO₂ to carbon monoxide (CO), a highly energetic molecule.

There are many ways to use CO, says Eli Stavitski, a scientist at Brookhaven and an author on the paper. You can react it with water to produce energy-rich hydrogen gas, or with hydrogen to produce useful chemicals, such as hydrocarbons or alcohols. If there were a sustainable, cost-efficient route to transform CO₂ to CO, it would benefit society greatly. Indeed, scientists have been looking for a way to do just that, but traditional electrocatalysts can't effectively initiate the reaction. That’s because a competing reaction, called the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) or water splitting, takes precedence over the CO₂ conversion reaction.

Fraunhofer scientists have developed biosensors with graphene electrodes, produced cheaply and simply by roll-to-roll printing. A system prototype for mass production has already been established. This may change the current situation in which cell-based biosensors can be quite expensive to make, which often prevents them from being used. Cost factors for sensors that perform measurements electrically are the expensive electrode material and complex production.

Cell-based biosensors measure changes in cell cultures via electrical signals. This is done using electrodes which are mounted inside the Petri dish or the wells of a 'well plate'. If added viruses destroy a continuous cell layer on the electrodes, for example, the electrical resistance measured between the electrodes is reduced. In this way, the effect of vaccines or drugs (for example) can be tested: the more effective the active ingredient is, the smaller the number of cells that are destroyed by the viruses and the lower the measured resistance change will be. Also toxicity tests, such as on cosmetic products, can function according to the same principle and may replace animal experiments in the future. Another advantage is that if biosensors are linked to an evaluation unit, measurements can be continuous and automated.

Researchers at the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) have developed a graphene-based aqueous hybrid capacitor that is stable, safe and boasts high energy and power densities, in addition to recharging in under 30 seconds.

The new capacitor is made with a liquid electrolyte sandwiched between a specially-designed anode and cathode. The anode is made with polymer chain materials based on graphene, which gives it a high surface area, allowing it to store more energy. The cathode material was made up of nickel oxide nanoparticles embedded on graphene.

Scientists from CSIRCentral Electrochemical Research Institute (CSIR-CECRI) and CSIRCentral Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSIR-CSMCRI) in India have collected discarded lithium-ion batteries and created reduced graphene oxide from them. The material reportedly showed high specific capacity at low current, making it an ideal material for next generation high-performance supercapacitors.

The specific capacity was found to be 112 farad per gram from fundamental evaluation, which is almost equal to the commercially available ones. Also the ones available in market today are created using activated carbon which is expensive and environmentally hazardous while our method is cheaper and fully environmental friendly explains the team.

Haydale announced its financial interim results for the first half of FY2018 (ended on December 31st). Haydale reports revenues of £2.49 million, up 67% from the first half of FY2017.

The group's loss from operations was £2.2 million (down from £2.4 million a year ago). At the end of December 2017 the company had £8.0 million in cash and equivalents.

Ionic Industries has provided updates on its research, commercial products and industry outreach. Among the mentioned highlights is the fact that Ionic is engaging with a number of companies to develop collaborations focused on its printed micro planar supercapacitors, named MICRENs. Also, on Ionic's other printed supercapacitor technology, the ORIGAMI Caps, the Company is working toward developing a prototype device for use in Internet of Things applications and is aiming to have a product to test in the next month.

On the Company's water treatment work, it was said that work with Clean TeQ and Monash under the CRC-P program continues apace. Much focus at this point is on upscaled manufacturing, ensuring the feasibility of manufacturing the membranes and graphene oxide (GO) sand products at industrial scales. The next major milestone that Ionic is aiming for is triggering the formation of a joint venture with Clean TeQ when the path to market (and revenues) for this technology will become much clearer.