Graphene is a one-atom-thick sheet of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb-like pattern. Graphene is considered to be the world's thinnest, strongest and most conductive material - of both electricity and heat. All of these properties are exciting researchers and businesses around the world - as graphene has the potential to revolutionize entire industries - in the fields of electricity, conductivity, energy generation, batteries, sensors and more.
Mechanical strength
Graphene is the world's strongest material, and can be used to enhance the strength of other materials. Dozens of researchers have demonstrated that adding even a trace amount of graphene to plastics, metals or other materials can make these materials much stronger - or lighter (as you can use a smaller amount of material to achieve the same strength).
Such graphene-enhanced composite materials can find uses in aerospace, building materials, mobile devices, and many other applications.
Thermal applications
Graphene is the most heat conductive found to date. As graphene is also strong and light, it means that it is a great material for making heat-spreading solutions, such as heat sinks or heat dissipation films. This could be useful in both microelectronics (for example to make LED lighting more efficient and longer lasting) and also in larger applications - for example thermal foils for mobile devices. Huawei's latest smartphones, for example, have adopted graphene-based thermal films.
Energy storage
Since graphene is the world's thinnest material, it also extremely high surface-area to volume ratio. This makes graphene a very promising material for use in batteries and supercapacitors. Graphene may enable batteries and supercapacitors (and even fuel-cells) that can store more energy - and charge faster, too.
The advantages of graphene batteries
Coatings ,sensors, electronics and more
Graphene has a lot of promise for additional applications: anti-corrosion coatings and paints, efficient and precise sensors, faster and efficient electronics, flexible displays, efficient solar panels, faster DNA sequencing, drug delivery, and more.
Graphene is such a great and basic building block that it seems that any industry can benefit from this new material. Time will tell where graphene will indeed make an impact - or whether other new materials will be more suitable.
The latest Graphene Application news:
New type of graphene photodetector could enable low-cost cameras for self-driving cars and robots
An international team of researchers recently reported its success in creating a new type of graphene-based photodetector.
The team integrated three concepts to achieve the new device: metallic plasmonic antennas, ultra sub-wavelength waveguiding of light and graphene photodetection. Specifically, the 2D-material hexagonal boron nitride was used as the waveguide for hyperbolic phonon polaritons, which can highly confine and guide mid-infrared light at the nanoscale. By carefully matching the nano-antenna with the phonon polariton waveguide, they efficiently funnel incoming light into a nanoscale graphene junction. By using this approach, they were able to overcome intrinsic limitations of graphene, such as its low absorption and its small photoactive region near the junction.
MSI uses graphene composite in its graphic cards for improved durability and heat transfer
MSI, a global computer hardware manufacturer, has revealed that it is utilizing graphene composites in its RTX 3000 series GPUs.
It seems that the graphene composite parts are replacing the backplate, traditionally made of plastic, and provide greater heat dissipation performance and better stiffness to handle the weight of the entire card while still weighing less than plastics.
Directa Plus signs MoU with NexTech Batteries to supply graphene for lithium sulphur battery production
Italy-based Directa Plus recently signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with NexTech Batteries, a company active in the field of lithium sulphur batteries based in Nevada, US.
Under the terms of the agreement, Directa would supply its G+ graphene nanoplatelets to Nextech Batteries.
G2O Water Technologies expands following NPIF investment
G2O Water Technologies (G2O) has announced an expansion into a new laboratory at Liverpool City Region’s Sci-Tech Daresbury following a £600,000 investment, including £320,000 of funding from NPIF – Maven Equity Finance, managed by Maven and part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund.
Headquartered in Manchester, the G2O uses graphene-based coatings technology to provide high quality and cost-effective solutions to a broad range of filtration applications. G2O’s technology is used for the treatment of water waste across multiple markets, including oil, gas and industrial.
Gnanomat launches two graphene-based nanocomposites
Spain-based Gnanomat recently announced the launch of its graphene-based nanocomposites.
Gnanomat stated that its manufacturing process technology offers the possibility to generate a broad range of different advanced materials for use in different industrial applications. Further nanomaterials will, in the following months, be added to supply both research and industrial customers. These products will allow the Company's clients to perform preliminary tests and open the possibility to co-develop advanced materials that meet their technical demands. Gnanomat products formulation and process have been designed for supply at industrial quantities.