Engineers at the University of Wollongong are collaborating with surgeons at the University of Texas at Dallas to develop materials that can provide targeted medical treatment. An emerging field called electroceuticals, where electrical stimulation is used to modify the behavior of tissues and organs affected by illness, reportedly shows promise.

Part of this research focuses on utilizing new material developments and additive manufacturing techniques to develop implantable structures that can monitor, maintain and restore function in neural tissues. However, one of the biggest barriers is finding electrode materials that can be safely implanted in the body. Materials like metal are too rigid and can damage tissues.

In May 2017 we reported on a new project at the Institute of Low Temperature and Structure Research (Wroclaw, Poland) that developed a new efficient white light source that uses graphene foam excitated by a continuous-wave laser.

The project is still in progress, and the researchers demonstrated the technology at IDTechEx Graphene & 2D Materials Europe 2019 earlier this month, as can be seen in our video above.

China-based Wuxi Graphene Film (owned by Grahope New Materials and The Sixth Element) produces patterned CVD graphene films for heating applications. These films are adopted by several Chinese device makers for different heating products - for example Grahope's graphene eye mask we recently reviewed at Graphene-Info.

The team at Wuxi Graphene Film was kind enough to send a few such films for us to review. These specific films are designed for one of WGF's customers and include a proprietary design which includes a USB connector for easy setup - you just plug these into a USB power source and the films heat up very quickly.

Graphene Composites, a UK-based company developing graphene-enhanced bulletproof shields, has exceeded its crowdfunding target. GC attempted to raise £300,000 on Crowdcube, but ended up raising £510,680 (around 676,625 USD).

Once Graphene Composites had hit its crowdfunding target, the company sent out a message to its supporters saying: Thank You - by investing in GC, you have not only invested in a company that should provide you with a healthy return and strong dividends, you are also enabling us to develop and deliver products that will truly improve the quality of life for many around the world. For example, our GC Shield active shooter protection in schools now, and eventually our Lightning Harvester renewable energy sources. Thank You, from all of us on the GC Team.

Garmor, manufacturer of low-cost graphene oxide, rGO and developer of innovative GO production methods, recently developed a graphene-enhanced polymeric coating with a 390% reported improvement in tensile strength. Garmor stated that it is already marketing this technology as it has already been fielded and used in commercial applications. Here's a video showing side-by-side testing of the original polymer (left) and the graphene-enhanced polymer (right) shown at 4X normal speed.

In addition, Garmor announced the development of an innovative process for converting insulating polymeric fibers into electrically conductive fibers with minimal cost and no waste products. The method has resulted in composites with single-digit graphene loadings delivering conductivity as high as .023 S/cm. Garmor sees such performance as ideal for wearable sensors and other applications that require integrated approaches to solving weight and measurement issues.

Ionic Industries has developed a number of prototype supercapacitor devices using its graphene technologies, and following is a video of one of these devices in operation.

Ionic states that these graphene-enhanced supercapacitors are inexpensive, safe and environmentally friendly and have the potential to power a broad range of Internet-of-Things devices (which are the markets that Ionic will be focusing on in the near term).

US-based graphene developer XG Sciences recently made headlines with a production expansion announcement - and an exciting deal with Ford to supply it with graphene-enhanced parts for the latest the Mustang and F-150 automobiles.

We have reached out to XGS' CEO, Philip Rose, who was kind enough to answer a few questions we had regarding the company's latest materials, plans and business.

Graphene Flagship partners Thales and M-SOLV have developed a large-scale spray coating tool, reportedly capable of meeting the high volume manufacturing requirements for high power graphene supercapacitors to be used in aerospace applications.

Thales has been working on incorporating graphene into supercapacitors since the start of the Graphene Flagship and has been able to significantly increase the storage potential of supercapacitor devices. "Using graphene, we have been able to increase the power of supercapacitors by five times. We deposited our supercapacitors using spray coating, enabling us to use a variety of substrates, thus allowing us to develop flexible, high power supercapacitors," said Dr. Paolo Bondavalli, Thales Research and Technology.

Grahope New Materials (GNM), China-based developer of graphene applications with a special focus on heating applications, has commercialized and is selling several types of graphene-based products, ranging from home textiles and clothes to therapeutic products.

GNM has kindly sent Graphene-Info a pair of "Graphene Physical Therapy Eye Mask" for review. The Company states on its website that the mask "effectively soothes the eyes and alleviates eye fatigue", by heating rapidly and generating "far infra-red waves that are similar to the human body's".

The Graphene-Info team attended this year's Graphene Week, organized by the Graphene Flagship in San Sebastian, Spain, 10-14 September 2018. The event attracted over 600 visitors from all over the world, and was extremely well organized.

While the talks and lectures were clearly scientifically-oriented, the commercial angle was also evident and many institutes and companies were there to show their recent product advancements. The Graphene Flagship's booth held a fascinating array of exhibits: graphene-enhanced retina and neural prosthesis (biomedical devices) by the ICN2 as a part of Braincom, Airbus' graphene composite for the leading edge of the tail of the Airbus A350, Nokia, Ericsson and AMO's graphene-based modulators and photodetectors for optical communications, a prosthetic robotic hand enhanced with graphene nerve sensors by the IIT, University of Cambridge's insole graphene-based pressure sensor and more.