Textiles

A consortium of 11 partners from six European countries has launched the GRAPHERGIA project, an ambitious 3.5-year Research and Innovation program, funded by €4.5 million under the Horizon Europe's Graphene Flagship initiative. \

Aimed at redefining the integration of energy solutions into everyday life, GRAPHERGIA aims to transform how we use and store energy. Its main goal is to develop and deploy cutting-edge graphene-based materials into energy harvesting and storage devices. These advances would enable scalable and cost-efficient production of two-dimensional (2D) material technologies for a wide array of applications.

A research team, led by Soongeun Kwon from the Department of Nano Manufacturing Technology at the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM) and Professor Young-Jin Kim from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Engineering (KAIST), has reported the development of customized graphene-based e-textiles.

Unlike most conventional methods that rely on toxic chemicals or optical masks for patterning, the research team used laser-direct patterning technology to create laser-induced graphene (LIG) on e-textiles. This approach led to the production of graphene-based e-textiles. The team converted raw Kevlar textiles to electrically conductive laser-induced graphene (LIG) via femtosecond laser pulses in ambient air. 

Researchers from Portugal's Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores – Microsistemas e Nanotecnologias (INESC MN), Universidade de Lisboa and the UK's University of Exeter have developed an efficient flexible triboelectric textile by using printed graphene electrodes with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and the textile itself as the triboelectric pair.

To achieve this, the team used a textile planarization technique with a polyurethane adhesive, along with three different deposition methods: graphene droplet films (GDF), graphene immersion films (GIF), and graphene spray films (GSF). 

Directa Plus has partnered with Candiani Denim, an Italian textile producer focused on innovation and sustainability, to launch GRAPHITO, an eco-denim textile. The eco-friendly denim textile combines Directa Plus' patented technology, providing antimicrobial and thermal properties, with Candiani Denim's bio-based polymer, which replaces liquid plastic in textile production.

GRAPHITO offers unique benefits by reducing water usage, energy consumption, and carbon emissions by up to 75% throughout the garment's wash lifecycle. Additionally, its antibacterial and antiviral properties enable up to 10 wears per lifecycle, while the thermoregulating properties make it suitable for all seasons.

Versarien plans to regroup around its commercial graphene applications (Cementene and Graphene Wear) in order to promote a recovery, while also cutting costs to stabilize the business, as the Company stated while also reporting its interim results.

In the results statement, Diane Savory, Versarien’s chair, said: "The period under review was extremely challenging from a financial perspective, both from a balance sheet point of view and with the decline in graphene revenues reflecting the ending of the DSTL development contract”. Revenues in the six months to end March 2023 were £2.62 million (2022: £3.89 million), with losses of £3.4 million (2022: £2.16 million), while cash at the end of the period £0.76 million with a further £0.53 million raised since.

Researchers from Sichuan University, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a graphene-based wearable textile that can convert body movement into useable electricity and even store that energy. The fabric can potentially be used in a wide range of applications, from medical monitoring to assisting athletes and their coaches in tracking their performance, as well as smart displays on clothing.

The accuracy of current wearable electronic devices and various available health monitors remains limited due to the handful of locations on or near the body on which they can be placed, and restricted to a small selection of applications. In the future, if advanced fabrics can be developed, wearable electronic devices integrated into shirts, pants, underwear and hats will be able to track indicators of frailty to assess risk of age-related disease, monitor cortisol levels to track stress levels, or even detect pathogens as part of a global pandemic monitoring network. To take wearable electronics to this next level, monitors will have to be integrated into textiles in a way that is lightweight, unobtrusive and less cumbersome.

Ionic Industries has announced the signing of an agreement for the sale of its first product developed from the Company's portfolio of graphene technologies. Ionic Industries referred to the patented conductive coatings applied to geotextiles as 'one of the world’s first large-scale applications of graphene technologies'. 

The supply agreement with GeoFabrics Australasia is for the supply of conductive, coated geotextile for sale by GeoFabrics as their Bidim-C product. The Bidim-C product is used to detect holes and potential leaks in newly constructed dams and water tank projects.  The agreement is for the supply of Bidim-C over the next 12 months and will generate up to AUD$1,000,000 (over USD$664,000) in revenue for Ionic.

Directa Plus and Italian clothing group Alfredo Grassi have expanded their partnership in military and public sector workwear after a new public sector contract. To meet the contract, Grassi has ordered tens of thousands of linear meters of graphene-treated lining worth more than €700,000, which is to be delivered in 2023.

The two companies have been working in partnership since 2017 and Directa Plus said this latest deal would add to the recurring revenue stream from its patented Graphene Plus PTC technology.

Researchers from China's Qingdao University and Shenzhen University have developed a graphene-based proof-of-concept for a skin-friendly and wearable textile-based touch panel that converts a person's forearm into a keyboard or sketchpad. The three-layer, touch-responsive material translates what a user sketches or types into computer pictures.

Computer trackpads and electronic signature capture devices are not common in wearables. Researchers have proposed constructing flexible touch-responsive panels out of clear, electrically conductive hydrogels, but these materials are sticky, making writing on them difficult and uncomfortable for the skin. As a result, the research team sought to combine a comparable hydrogel into a comfortable fabric sleeve for drawing or playing computer games.

Versarien has announced the launch of Umbro's ProTraining Elite range, including garments incorporating the Company's Graphene-Wear technology.

Versarien has been working with Umbro since 2018 and these are the first products to be launched in Europe incorporating the Company's technology.  Umbro's new ProTraining Elite long-sleeve running tops, baselayers and running tights have Versarien's Graphene-Wear ink formula printed on the inside.  The Graphene-Wear formula features novel properties that will allow wearers to experience enhanced thermal transmittance, increased moisture management, with improved drying rate, without compromising air or water vapor permeability.  In particular, these three garments will benefit significantly from applying Graphene-Wear as they are being worn in circumstances where maintaining core body temperature is more desirable and difficult to achieve.  The garments also have Versarien's Graphene-Wear trademark applied.