Graphene Inks: introduction and market status - Page 3

Versarien announced its interim financial results for the six months ended 30 September, 2021. Revenues were £3.82 million (up 41% from £2.71 million in H1 2020), while reported net loss was reduced to £3.11 million (down from £4.34 million in H1 2020). At the end of the period, Versarien had £3.46 million in cash and equivalents.

The company is now focused on two main application areas, textiles and concrete - for which it sees excellent opportunities in the near future. Versarien is increasing its production capacity. It has recently acquired graphene manufacturing assets in Spain, which will provide an additional 100 annual ton capacity, it has ordered equipment that will enable it to increase graphene ink production capacity by 12,000 liters per year and it has signed a lease on a new dedicated graphene production facility in Gloucestershire.

U.S-based graphene batteries developer Nanotech Energy is reportedly planning to expand its facilities and develop a 517-acre campus within the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center. The first building is slated to open in Q4 2022.

The high-volume facility will significantly increase Nanotech Energy’s manufacturing capacity to produce and scale its patented, non-flammable Graphene-Organolyte batteries and other graphene-powered products, including EMI (electromagnetic interference) shielding, transparent conducting electrodes, conductive inks, conductive adhesives and silver nanowires.

A new Swinburne-led startup, SensFit Technologies, has developed a smart shoe with inbuilt sensors, aiming to improve the quality of life of older people through the early detection of dementia, diabetic ulcers and other physical activity issues.

Unique sensor technology takes readings from the soles of the shoes. Image from Swinburne website

The unique technology is based on 87 smart sensors bonded with an innovative graphene ink that is embedded in the soles of a shoe. It was developed by startup co-founders Professor Franz Konstantin Fuss, a medical technologies researcher, and Dr. Nishar Hameed, whose research focuses on developing innovative technologies from advanced composite materials.

Versarien recently commissioned the University of Gloucestershire to carry out trials on its graphene-coated sportswear.

Image from article

A research team is to carry out tests on a prototype upper body garment, applied with Versarien's graphene inks ("Graphinks") through a screen-printing process. The clothing is manufactured by partner MAS Holdings. The researchers will compare the material to a selection of other sports garments when worn during high-intensity exercise.

Haydale has announced that, following its announcement of positive prototype testing on 3rd March 2020, its range of advanced wearable technology - integrated into garments for elite athletes - was used in Tokyo by British athletes, including top medal winning athletes.

The garments generate heat using Haydale's printed functionalized graphene ink and incorporate electronic circuitry to produce temperature regulated panels. The plan is to use them at future international competitions, and subsequently to make them available commercially to other professional sports.

Researchers from Kansas State University, led by Suprem Das, assistant professor of industrial and manufacturing systems engineering, in collaboration with Christopher Sorensen, university distinguished professor of physics, have shown potential ways to manufacture graphene-based nano-inks for additive manufacturing of supercapacitors in the form of flexible and printable electronics.

The team’s work could be adapted to integrate supercapacitors to overcome the slow-charging processes of batteries. Furthermore, Das has been developing additive manufacturing of small supercapacitors — called micro-supercapacitors — so that one day they could be used for wafer-scale integration in silicon processing.

Advanced Material Development (AMD) will fund £2 million of research by the University of Sussex to develop nanomaterial technologies for environmentally sustainable uses. This funding will pay for five researchers to work on developments for the next three years.

Professor Alan Dalton, who leads the university’s Materials Physics Group and is a and co-founder of AMD, said: We’re on the cusp of taking a number of our inventions out of the lab and to market, and this significant new boost from AMD means we can recruit the team we need to make the next step... The company has exciting collaborations with Marks and Spencer, Honeywell and many other global companies lined up. The potential applications for nanomaterial inks are boundless.

Advanced Material Development (AMD) and First Graphene have agreed to collaborate on the ongoing development of AMD’s conductive inks and other graphene enabled coatings.

Under a binding memorandum of understanding (MoU), AMD will provide expertise in the design and development of functional nanomaterials and hierarchical assembly of material systems, while First Graphene delivers capabilities in the development, manufacture and supply of its graphene nanoplatelets, branded PureGraph.

Researchers at Duke University have created transistors with three carbon-based inks. The all-carbon thin-film transistors were made using crystalline nanocellulose as a dielectric, carbon nanotubes as a semiconductor, graphene as a conductor and paper as a substrate. This type of component could assist in addressing the environmental problem of accumulation of electronics that are non-recyclable.

Silicon-based computer components are probably never going away and we don’t expect easily recyclable electronics like ours to replace the technology and devices that are already widely used, said Professor Aaron Franklin, an electrical engineer at Duke University. But we hope that by creating new, fully recyclable, easily printed electronics and showing what they can do, that they might become widely used in future applications.

University at Buffalo (UB) researchers have developed a novel 3D printed water-purifying graphene aerogel that could be scaled for use at large wastewater treatment plants.

UB's 3D printed ultra-light G-PDA-BSA aerogel. Image credit: UB and 3dprintingindustry.com

Composed of aerogel graphene and two bio-inspired polymers, the novel material is reportedly capable of removing dyes, metals and organic solvents from drinking water with 100% efficiency. Unlike similar nanosheets, the scientists’ design is reusable, doesn’t leave residue and can be 3D printed into larger sizes. The team now plans to commercialize its design for industrial-scale deployment.