December 2018

Graphene Flagship partners Aernnova, Grupo Antolin-Ingenieria and Airbus have produced a leading edge for the Airbus A350 horizontal tail plane using graphene-enhanced composites. As the first part of the tail plane to contact air, the leading edge is subjected to extreme temperatures caused by compressive heating of the air ahead of the wing. Thus, it must possess excellent mechanical and thermal properties.

Aernnova supplied the resin to Grupo Antolin-Ingenieria who added graphene directly to the resin and applied milling forces, said Ana Reguero of Aernnova. This creates small graphene particles an important step to get good graphene infiltration within the resin, avoiding unwanted impurities, such as solvents, which can alter the viscosity of the resin. It is important to maintain the correct viscosity of the resin to ensure the optimal outcome during the resin transfer molding of the leading edge.

2018 will soon be over - and it was a good year for the graphene industry. Graphene-based products are entering the market, and new advances in many applications have been reported. It seems that graphene is finally starting to fulfill its promise.

Here are the top 10 stories posted on Graphene-Info in 2018, ranked by popularity (i.e. how many people read the story):

1. On Nanotech Engineering's 92% efficiency graphene-CNTs solar panel claim (Jan 15)
2. New graphene-based 'atomristors' could pave the way towards more powerful computing (Jan 19)
3. Haydale and WCPC awarded contract to develop advanced wearable technology for athletes training for the 2020 Olympic Games (Sep 20)
4. Graphene-enhanced sodium-ion batteries show promise as cheap, effective lithium alternative (Feb 11)
5. Australian CSIRO develops promising graphene-based water filtration membrane (Feb 15)
6. Ghostek launches the world's first headphones with graphene drivers (Jan 1)
7. Callaway launches new graphene-enhanced golf balls (Jan 23)
8. First Graphene provides updates on the BEST Battery project (Feb 21)
9. Graphene-based heating devices hit the market (Feb 19)
10. University of Arkansas aims to commercialize its revolutionary graphene-based VEH technology (Jan 23)

Zenyatta Ventures has announced closing a private placement which raised $3,000,000 CAD (around $2.2 million USD).

These funds will be used for bulk sampling, environmental assessment and community engagement work on the Company’s Albany Graphite Project.

Haydale has announced that it has secured £1 million of new working capital for the Group through a combination a new £750,000 16-month loan facility from the Development Bank of Wales (DBW) and the issue of £250,000 of new equity via a subscription with the Company.

The Company is to enter into a new secured working capital loan from the DBW of £750,000 which is to be repaid monthly on or before April 2020. The Loan is expected to be drawn down in January and will be used by the Group for general working capital purposes. The Company has also raised £250,000 through the issue shares.

Researchers from the U.S. Army, in collaboration with RDECOM Research Laboratory, the Army's corporate research laboratory (ARL), Stanford University, MIT, University of Southern California and Argonne National Laboratory, have discovered a way to get more energy out of energetic materials containing aluminum, common in battlefield systems, by igniting aluminum micron powders coated with graphene oxide. This research could lead to enhanced energetic performance of metal powders as propellant/explosive ingredients in Army's munitions.

This discovery makes use of graphene oxide as an effective light-weight additive for practical energetic applications using micron-size aluminum powders (µAl), i.e., aluminum particles one millionth of a meter in diameter.

A team of researchers from Russia, UK, Japan and Italy has created a graphene-based terahertz detector.

The team explains that the reason for the inefficiency of existing terahertz detectors is the mismatch between the size of the detecting element, the transistor—about one-millionth of a meter—and the typical wavelength of terahertz radiation, which is about 100 times greater. This results in the wave passing the detector by without any interaction.

This is a guest post by Guillaume Chansin

Graphene is probably the most hyped material of the past decade, but so far commercial applications have been limited. Graphene is mostly used as an additive inside composites and plastics to enhance their thermal or structural properties. In the most recent high profile case, Huawei announced the integration of a passive graphene cooling film to improve heat management inside one of their smartphones. While this is a useful use of graphene, it is a far cry from the disruptive electronics that were promised when the material was first isolated.

It is worth considering that both investments and patent filings in graphene peaked in 2015. Nearly four years later, we can expect to see some of these to start paying off with some product launches.

Versarien has announced its plans to enter an agreement with a large state-owned Chinese aerospace company. The Partner is said to mainly be engaged in the research, design, manufacture and operation of various aerospace systems.

The agreement details the parties' desire to collaborate and ultimately enter into a strategic cooperation covering research, development and manufacturing in order to accelerate the industrialization and market for graphene and other Versarien 2D materials, including Hexotene, in the Chinese aerospace sector. This will include exploring their uses within the fields of, amongst others, microwave and electromagnetic radiation shielding, heat dispersion coatings, 3D printing and flexible wearable devices.

NanoXplore has announced its plans for a private placement for gross proceeds of approximately CAD$30 million (around USD $22.3 million).

NanoXplore has also announced that it has entered into an updated Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Martinrea International, which is expected to further develop the commercial relationships between the companies. The MOU provides for increased collaborations between NanoXplore and Martinrea, including commitments by NanoXplore to provide graphene to Martinrea and to assist in the development of graphene-related products and technologies. Martinrea will also assist NanoXplore in the future development of its operations. Furthermore, Martinrea will subscribe for approximately $15 million as part of the Equity Offering. After giving effect to the Equity Offering, Martinrea is expected to own approximately 16% of the issued and outstanding common shares of NanoXplore.

Applied Graphene Materials has a longstanding collaboration with James Briggs, one of Europe’s largest consumer chemicals companies, to develop graphene-based anti-corrosive coatings. Now, an announcement has come out regarding the fruit of this collaboration - a range of graphene-enhanced anti-corrosive vehicle paint primer is set to launch in the next few months.

James Briggs (JBL) has reportedly prepared its first commercial batch in preparation for full product launch. "JBL has successfully completed its first production batch which is a significant milestone for commercial realization".