GNPs

Harcros Chemicals, a U.S-based manufacturer of innovative and sustainable chemicals, has entered into a Letter of Intent (LOI) with Avadain stating mutual intent for Harcros to become the first company to commercially manufacture Avadain’s signature graphene flakes. Harcros has also made an investment in Avadain.

“There are many types of graphene materials,” says Brad Walden, Harcros’ VP for business development. “Harcros wants to be in the forefront of supplying the market for large, thin and nearly defect free graphene flakes which can be used to make thousands of products better.”

Avadain recently announced it entered into a memorandum of understanding to explore the use of its graphene in MAGFAST’s family of next generation wireless magnetic chargers, charging accessories and charging-enabled luggage.

MAGFAST is a direct-to-consumer electronics company offering a family of premium charging products that snap together magnetically, charge wirelessly and support any smartphone, tablet or reader. By incorporating Avadain's graphene into its suite of industry-leading products, MAGFAST hopes to achieve enhanced performance, lighter weight and increased durability, resulting in a superior customer experience.

Gerdau Graphene has launched two new additives specifically formulated for the paint and coatings industry: NanoDUR and NanoLAV. The new additives, produced with the company's proprietary G2D technology, utilize graphene nanoplatelets to deliver improved performance for water-based paints and coatings — without altering pH levels. The additives also reduce or eliminate the need for some traditional manufacturing inputs, additives, and processes, which can lower production costs while improving sustainability and reducing environmental impact.

"Until recently, it has been virtually impossible for coatings manufacturers to upgrade product performance, slash manufacturing costs, and improve sustainability at the same time — it simply couldn't be done. Now, the application of carbon nanomaterials, such as graphene, in commercially available additives has made this possible and will act as a game-changer for the industry," said Alexandre de Toledo Corrêa, CEO of Gerdau Graphene. "NanoDUR and NanoLAV represent the new performance, economic, and sustainability edge for coatings manufacturers, enabling them to leapfrog competitors across the value chain. These are the newest in our growing portfolio of graphene additives and we're excited to partner with industry leaders to develop even more novel, powerful applications for graphene."

Researchers at the University of Georgia have developed a new graphene-enhanced foam material that could significantly reduce health care-related infections caused by implanted medical devices, as well as drastically improve cleanup efforts following environmental disasters, such as oil spills.

The 3D foam is water repellent and exhibits antimicrobial and oil-water separation properties. Its versatility and relatively inexpensive production costs could make it a valuable resource for clinicians and those specializing in environmental remediation.

Directa Plus has been awarded a €136,000 grant from the Italian region of Lombardy to develop paints and coverings with its G+ graphene nano-platelets. “This grant from the Lombardy local government will help fund Directa Plus to develop these potentially disruptive products in a faster timeframe than we could have achieved using our own resources,” said founder and chief executive Giulio Cesareo in a statement.

Directa has created a new technology, called Grafyshield, a granular, semi-finished G+ formulation for the coatings market. Grafyshield is “designed to be easy to handle and mixable with resins using mixing equipment,” the producer and supplier of nano-platelets-based products said. The target for the new formulation is to bring anti-corrosion and flame-retardant properties to the final paint system.

Haydale has started to supply South Korean plastics developer NeoEnpla with functionalized graphene nano-platelets (GNPs) for use in food packaging. Functionalized using Haydale's patented HDPlas® technology, the GNP-enhanced thermoplastic has been used to manufacture an initial sample range of food storage zipper bags and biodegradable plastic bags.

LLDPE and LDPE (low density polyethylene) are widely used in food packaging and are ideal for food storage due to their high resistance to moisture, tearing and chemicals. The graphene-enhanced zipper bags have reportedly shown an increase in tensile strength of 31% compared to non-graphene LLDPE (linear low-density polyethylene) zipper bags. In addition, the increased mechanical strength of the graphene zipper bags allows light weighting of the plastic, reducing the film thickness from 90µm to 60µm per bag.

Poland-based Advanced Graphene Products has signed a cooperation agreement with U.S-based Garmor, a division of Asbury Carbons, aiming to increase the scale of operations and expand its markets.

Advanced Graphene Products entered the Warsaw NewConnect market at the end of November last year. The company has an annual production capacity of 100kg of graphene flakes and 150m² of single-crystal graphene sheets. This production capacity will allow commercialization of the developed graphene applications on an industrial scale.

U.S-based graphene flakes producer Avadain has announced that it will upscale its environmentally friendly process to mass production as part of a two-year project funded by a $3.77 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST).

We are excited to unleash the Graphene Revolution by making large, thin and nearly defect free graphene flakes available in industrial volumes and acceptable cost, says Bradley Larschan, CEO of Avadain.

Applied Graphene Materials (AGM) has announced that Stanvac-Superon Group, an India-based manufacturer of industrial repair and maintenance solutions, has launched a conductive coating incorporating AGM’s Genable graphene dispersions, for use on industrial power transmission equipment.

Following successful development and testing, the new protective, conductive coating incorporating AGM’s A-GNP35 graphene dispersions will reduce contact resistance in coated copper and aluminium electrical cable joints to reduce the power lost over the connection.

Haydale has announced that, following the successful incorporation of graphene nano-platelets (GNPs) in its cosmetic face mask sheets and PPE face masks, iCraft is using Haydale’s functionalized GNPs in its graphene-coated fabric, THERMiT.

In order to grant increased performance in terms of thermal and antibacterial properties, Haydale’s plasma functionalized GNPs have been used to coat the nylon fibers in the lining of a down jacket. The graphene coated fabric, THERMiT, was supplied to South Korean sports apparel brand, Pro-Specs, for use in a new graphene-enhanced jacket. The initial production run of 8,000 items, which was available in store and online, sold out within weeks of being released.