Advanced Material Development (AMD) recently announced that it secured its first contract under the Defense Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) Weapons Sector Research Framework (WSRF), worth £125,000 (around USD$166,700).

The contract will fund the early development of AMD’s proprietary technology in carbon-based inks to improve protection systems for people and assets.

Haydale Graphene Industries has announced that its partner IRPC has now completed the development project with Haydale and started production of its new washable functionalized graphene-enhanced fabric mask.

IRPC has placed a follow-on order for 200 kilograms of Haydale’s bespoke ink, with further orders anticipated, the advanced materials group said. The face masks are currently being produced for use internally within the IRPC group, with a forecasted external order book for 2021.

Researchers from the University of Nottingham’s Centre for Additive Manufacturing (CfAM) have reported a breakthrough in the study of 3D printing electronic devices with graphene.

Characterization of the fully inkjet‐printed graphene/hBN FET. Photo from article

The scientists utilized an inkjet-based 3D printing technique to deposit inks that contained flakes of graphene, in a promising step towards replacing single-layer graphene as a contact material for 2D metal semiconductors.

Haydale announced its financial results for FY2020 (which endd on 30 June, 2020). The group's revenues reached £2.95 million, down from £3.47 in FY 2019, but its net loss decreased to £4.02 million (down from £7.19 in 2019) as the company continues to implement cost savings measures.

Haydale's negative cash flow deceased by 31%, but the company still used up £3.32 million in the year and at the end of June had only £0.82 million in cash and equivalents. On September 2020 Haydale raised £2.98 million via a new share subscription.

Australian Advanced Materials has announced it is developing a graphene-oxide-based ink battery that is able to self-charge within minutes.

The cells will be created with a printable ink and designed to generate electricity from humidity in the air or skin surface to self-charge without any manual charging or wired power required. It was said the batteries will be ideally suited for use in Internet of Things (IoT) devices.

Researchers from the Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology in South Korea have recently developed a low-cost energy storage device to power electronic devices like wearable skin sensors. The supercapacitor, made with graphene ink that is sprayed onto flexible substrates, can be used for remote medical monitoring and diagnosis on wearable devices.

Materials scientist Sungwon Lee shared that as the demand for wearable devices and remote diagnosis has increased, scientists have focused on developing electronic skin devices. The team focused on "extremely tiny and flexible energy devices as a power source."

Haydale has announced the signing of contracts for the provision of services for the collaborative development of graphene and nano material enhanced products for use in Dowty Propellers’ products. Haydale will assist Dowty in examining the feasibility and development of various material technologies, pertinent to Dowty’s future product development, involving the incorporation of graphene and other nano materials.

Haydale will work with Dowty to develop erosion-resistant coatings with the addition of Haydale’s proprietary Silicone Carbide (SiC) Microfibers. Further development work is ongoing to establish the feasibility of potential industry-changing technology for the turboprop sector. In addition to these topics, Haydale will develop graphene-enhanced functional inks for strain sensing using its surface engineered HDPlas graphene nanomaterials.

Payper Technologies, UK-based start-up that developed a graphene-based solution a new pay-at-table technology, has announced that it has secured the first trial site in Manchester, at the five-star Lowry Hotel River restaurant.

Using graphene-enhanced receipt paper, the user simply places their phone on the restaurant bill and a payment screen appears on screen in seconds.

Researchers from Imperial College London, Durham University, University of Cambridge, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Zhejiang University, Beihang University, Nanjing Tech University, Macquarie University, University of British Columbia and Aalto University have collaborated to examine the "coffee ring effect" which has been hindering the industrial deployment of functional inks with graphene, 2D materials, and nanoparticles because it makes printed electronic devices behave irregularly.

The team of researchers has now created a new family of inks that overcomes this problem, enabling the fabrication of new electronics such as sensors, light detectors, batteries and solar cells.

ZEN Graphene Solutions has announced it has commenced collaborations with research teams at a number of personal protective equipment (PPE) manufacturers to incorporate ZEN’s virucidal graphene ink into commercial products, including masks, gloves, gowns and other clothing following Zen’s promising results for an antiviral, graphene-based ink formulation from The University of Western Ontario’s ImPaKT Facility, biosafety Level 3 lab.

The company continues to optimize its proprietary formulation for dosage and delivery mechanism for highest antiviral impact. The next phase of testing is currently underway at the ImPaKT Facility and includes a preferred mask fabric coated in ZEN’s virucidal ink exposed to and tested against the COVID-19 virus.