Graphene Inks: introduction and market status - Page 4

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.

Advanced Material Development (AMD) has announced that it has signed a Letter of Intent with Marks and Spencer to further its work on the development of a green and sustainable RFID solution for the apparel and packaging industry.

AMD stated that it has made substantial progress on the use of its graphene based conductive ink technology to replace the aluminium and plastic materials that are incumbent in the ever-growing RFID applications industry. This has opened up opportunities in this sector for applications ranging from green to flexible solutions in a number of key markets.

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.