Haydale, the global advanced materials group, has announced that strong commercial progress has been made with an unspecified global composite materials group to enhance mechanical properties for selected products in their range of materials, through a commercially funded contract.

Over the last 12 months, Haydale has completed a series of pre-production trials for this customer (who for commercial reasons cannot be named) to enhance these selected products' mechanical performance through the incorporation of graphene in a range of world-wide industrial applications. Haydale reports that to date, it has been paid approximately $150,000 USD by the Customer for these trials.

University of Arkansas researchers are working together, with support from the National Institutes of Health, to make that prospect of graphene-based sensors that sequence a patient's genome to predict diseases more realistic. Steve Tung, professor of mechanical engineering, and Jin-Woo Kim, professor of biological engineering, have received a grant (of approximately $400,000) from the NIH's Human Genome Research Institute to develop nanoscale technology designed to make DNA sequencing faster, cheaper and easier.

The base of the research builds on the concept of nanochannel measurement, in which individual strands of DNA pass through a tiny channel. The passage of those strands interrupts an electrical current and a sensor detects the nature of the interruption, telling scientists which nucleotide has passed through the channel.

In December 2017, Manchester University teamed up with British sportswear brand Inov-8 to become the world's first company to incorporate graphene into running and fitness shoes. Now, Inov-8 announced a new shoe that features graphene, which are hoped to be "a game changer in the industry".

The Ultimate goal will be to reduce the weight of running shoes by 50%, according to Michael Price, Inov-8’s product and marketing director. The company announced The G-Series range which includes three different shoes two trail-oriented shoes and one geared for cross-training. The Company estimates that the TerraUltra G 260 will likely be the most popular in Canada it’s geared for more strenuous trail efforts. The Mudclaw G 260 is geared for extra muddy terrain and obstacle courses. Finally the F-Lite G 290 has been developed for cross-fit athletes to wear in the gym. Each shoe includes graphene-enhanced rubber outsoles and breathable mesh uppers that are enforced with Kevlar.

Researchers at the Institute of Energy and Climate Research (IEK-1) in Germany have developed a material comprising tin oxide nanoparticles enriched with antimony, on a base layer of graphene, that can reportedly triple the capacity of a battery cell and dramatically cut the charging time.

"An important factor is the anode material," said Prof Dina Fattakhova-Rohlfing from the Institute of Energy and Climate Research (IEK-1), who led the research. "In principle, anodes based on tin dioxide can achieve much higher specific capacities, and therefore store more energy, than the carbon anodes currently being used. They have the ability to absorb more lithium ions. Pure tin oxide, however, exhibits very weak cycle stability - the storage capability of the batteries steadily decreases and they can only be recharged a few times. The volume of the anode changes with each charging and discharging cycle, which leads to it crumbling."

Researchers from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) in Russia and Tohoku University in Japan have explained the phenomenon of particle-antiparticle annihilation in graphene, recognized by specialists as Auger recombination.

Two scenarios of electron-hole recombination in graphene: radiative recombination (left) and Auger recombination (right) in which the energy is picked up by an electron passing by

Despite persistently being spotted in experiments, it was thought to be prohibited by the fundamental physical laws of energy and momentum conservation. The theoretical explanation of this process has until recently remained one of the greatest puzzles of solid-state physics.

Versarien has announced that it has entered into a commercial agreement with PhoneDevil ("MediaDevil") to launch a new range of earphones and other audio equipment and accessories which will feature Versarien's proprietary Nanene graphene nano platelets and utilize the Nanene brand. In addition, the companies are at an advanced stage of launching a range of mobile phone and tablet device accessories utilizing Nanene, which will also feature the Nanene branding.

The products, which will initially focus on earphones, will be sold on MediaDevil's online platform, in addition to other online retail platforms such as Amazon, along with being supplied to high street retailers and MediaDevil's distribution partners globally. The agreement will see Versarien's Nanene brand feature on all product packaging, for which Versarien will receive a royalty on each product sold.

China-based display maker BOE Group announced that it is looking into adopting graphene for next-generation touch screens.

The company says that graphene has several advantages over current technologies, though production capacity remains insufficient at this stage.

Global Graphene Group (G3), the holding company of Angstron Materials and Nanotek Instruments, has announced G3-Fireshield Technology a suite of next generation battery components to dramatically reduce the risk of fire occurrences in EVs, portable electronics, and a range of other devices.

G3 states that this breakthrough is the first of its kind to overcome the intrinsic flammability problems associated with multiple battery material components. G3 explains that a conventional Li-ion battery is made up of three primary components: a negative electrode, a separator soaked in electrolyte solution, and a positive electrode. At elevated temperatures, brought on by mechanical, electrical or thermal abuse, each of these components undergoes chemical and/or structural changes that release energy from the cell in harmful ways.

Rice University scientists have developed a simple way to create conductive, 3D objects made of graphene foam. The resulting objects may offer new possibilities for energy storage and flexible electronic sensor applications, according to Rice chemist Prof. James Tour.

The technique is an extension of groundbreaking work by the Tour lab that produced the first laser-induced graphene (LIG) in 2014 by heating inexpensive polyimide plastic sheets with a laser. The laser burns halfway through the plastic and turns the top into graphene that remains attached to the bottom half. LIG can be made in macroscale patterns at room temperature.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have used graphene to increase the sensitivity of diagnostic devices, in particular those used to monitor and treat HIV. The team combined a trick of DNA engineering which involves an engineered piece of DNA called a hairpin, with biosensors, increasing the sensitivity of the sensors by a factor of 50,000 in less than an hour.

The biosensorsare made with graphene, and so can be used as an extremely sensitive way of detecting biological signals, measuring the current that flows through graphene surface in the presence of biomolecules. When DNA or RNA molecules bind to the graphene, it produces a big change in the conductivity of the atomically thin material, allowing the researchers to detect infections and to measure viral loads.