Researchers at MIT have developed a method that might enable the production of long rolls of high-quality graphene. The continuous manufacturing process can reportedly produce five centimeters of high-quality graphene per minute. The longest run was nearly four hours, and it generated around 10 meters of continuous graphene.

MIT is referring to the development as the first demonstration of an industrial, scalable method for manufacturing high-quality graphene that is tailored for use in membranes that filter a variety of molecules. These membranes could be used in biological separation or desalination, for example. The researchers drew from the common industrial roll-to-roll approach blended with chemical vapor deposition, a common graphene-fabrication technique.

Researchers from the University of Exeter have developed a new technique that incorporates graphene into traditional concrete production, to make more than twice as strong and four times more water resistant than existing concretes. The new graphene-reinforced concrete material also drastically reduced the carbon footprint of conventional concrete production methods, making it more sustainable and environmentally friendly.

All of the concrete samples tested have reportedly met British and European standards for construction. The research team states that the new technique could pave the way for other nano-materials to be incorporated into concrete, and so further modernize the construction industry worldwide.

Researchers from Tomsk Polytechnic University, along with additional international colleagues, have discovered a method to modify and use graphene without destroying it. Thanks to the method, the researchers were able to synthesize a well-structured polymer with a strong covalent bond on single-layer graphene.

The researchers call the result "polymer carpets". The structure is highly stable and less prone to degradation over time, holding promise for the development of flexible organic electronics. If a layer of molybdenum disulfide is added over this "nanocarpet," the resulting structure generates current under exposure to light.

Researchers at the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO) in Spain, along with other members of the Graphene Flagship, have reached what they consider to be the ultimate level of light confinement - being able to confine light down to a space of one atom. This may pave the way to ultra-small optical switches, detectors and sensors.

Graphene keeps surprising us: nobody thought that confining light to the one-atom limit would be possible. It will open a completely new set of applications, such as optical communications and sensing at a scale below one nanometer, said ICREA Professor Frank Koppens at ICFO, who led the research.

Directa Plus has enterd an agreement with an Italian re-tread company to produce graphene-enhanced tyres for buses and trucks. A pilot program using G+ will start this year with a commercial launch planned for 2019.

Marangoni will work with Directa’s G+ compound to produce a bespoke product designed for specifically for commercial vehicle re-treads. A compound that incorporates G+ will increase grip, durability and fuel efficiency and extend the life of a tyre, as per Directa.

Advanced materials company First Graphene has announced that it has entered into a binding Memorandum of Understanding with SupremeSAT for the development of graphene-enhanced components for SupremeSAT's Miniature Satellite Assembly Project. The collaboration with FGR will aim to develop graphene-enhanced components, for both strength and weight reduction, and also heat and radiation shielding.

SupremeSAT is working on the Project with EnduroSAT of Bulgaria. Two leading universities in the USA will be joining this project shortly. The Project will test satellite interconnectivity and data exchange between satellites and a data relay within a constellation. Initially a duo of 1.5U Cube Satellites will be assembled at SupremeSAT's Satellite Assembling facility - Pallekele - Kandy, with hardware for the satellites, training and other variants of engineering support coming from EnduroSAT.

Australia-based mining company Archer Exploration has announced a collaboration agreement with the University of New South Wales (UNSW) to develop and implement Archer’s graphite and graphene materials for use in energy storage system applications targeting lithium-ion batteries.

The collaboration will mainly focus on the design of high-performance electrodes for lithium-ion batteries using graphite and graphene sourced from Archer’s Campoona deposit. This work is aiming at the development of electrodes for lithium-ion batteries and implementation of these electrodes in a number of advanced application full-cell and half-cell configurations.

A research team at Chalmers University has shown that a layer of vertical graphene flakes forms a protective surface that makes it impossible for bacteria to attach. Instead, bacteria are sliced apart by the sharp graphene flakes and killed. Coating implants with a layer of graphene flakes can therefore help protect patients against infection, eliminate the need for antibiotic treatment, and reduce the risk of implant rejection. The osseointegration - the process by which the bone structure grow to attach the implant - is not disturbed. In fact, the graphene has been shown to benefit the bone cells.

Chalmers University researchers stated that the biological applications of graphene began to materialize a few years ago. The researchers saw conflicting results in earlier studies, in which some showed that graphene damaged the bacteria, others that they were not affected. "We discovered that the key parameter is to orient the graphene vertically. If it is horizontal, the bacteria are not harmed" says Ivan Mijakovic, Professor at the Department of Biology and Biological Engineering.

Researchers from Nanjing University in China have developed a new device of 3D hollow-cone structure based on a graphene oxide film that can greatly increase the solar-thermal conversion efficiency.

The device, named 'Artificial Transpiration', is inspired by the transpiration process of trees. It has a special 1D water path within it, which can reduce the energy loss in conduction. The cone structure can reportedly collect more sunlight throughout the day when compared to a flat device, as about 10-50% of sunlight is diffusive. Thus it performs even better in the real world than in the laboratory, the team said.

The following is a sponsored post by XFNano

XFNano's graphene materials were recently used in two fascinating research work focused on advanced energy applications.

The first is a work by teams from Anhui Normal University, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences which developed a fast, one-step strategy to prepare sandwiched metal hydroxide/graphene composites through a kinetically controlled coprecipitation under room temperature. Such NiCo-HS@G nano-composite exhibits good electrocatalytic activity for OER, superior to most of the reported OER catalysts. Such performance and the facile preparation of NiCo-HS@G opens up a new avenue for the cost-effective and low-energy-consumption production of various sandwiched metal hydroxides/graphene composites as efficient OER electrocatalysts with desired morphology and competing performance for the applications in diverse energy devices.