Flexible transparent graphene electrodes may enable electronic tattoos

Researchesr from Korea's Ulsan, KAIST and ETRI institutes developed a process that produces flexible transparent graphene electrodes that can be attached to the skin (or any kind of delicate object). This could enable applications such as electronic tattoo-like stickers or bio-signal sensors.

A graphene metal fiber composite ise used, which lowers the resistance of the transparent electrode to approximately 1/20th of existing ones. This enables the electrodes to be used in flexible displays or sensors. The new process is similar to a widely-used semiconductor process which means that this can be scaled commercially.

Read the full story Posted: Oct 25,2014

Researchers find way to fix graphene grain-boundary defects

Researchers from Korea's Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology developed a technique to repair graphene line defects by selectively depositing metal (Platinum). Graphene grain boundary defects harm the material's properties, and the new method can be used to address this issue.

Using Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD), the researchers managed to use the platinum metal and deposit it on the line defects. The researchers used the new improved sheets to develop electrodes and hydrogen gas sensors at room temperature. In these two applications, the enhanced sheets outperformed the original graphene sheets three times over.

The researchers now say they want to try different metals (such as gold and silver), and also test other applications.

Read the full story Posted: Sep 12,2014

Boron and nitrogen doping opens up a bandgop in graphene nanoplatelets

Researchers from Korea's Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNITS) developed new graphene-based FETs (G-FETs), based on boron/nitrogen co-doped graphene nanoplatelets.

The researchers major breakthrough is the development of a new efficient method to produce those BCN-graphene platelets via a simple solvothermal reaction using potassium. Doping the GNPs opens up a bandgap.

Read the full story Posted: Dec 19,2013

Doped graphene oxide used to make high performance fuel-cell electrocatalyst

Researchers from Korea's Ulsan institute developed a high performance Oxygen Reduction Reaction (ORR) electrocatalyst using chemical functionalized (doped) graphene oxide. ORR electrocatalysts, which split hydrogen gas to make electricity are critical components in fuel cells and some batteries.

The researchers used covalent functionalization of various small organic molecules with a subsequent thermal treatment, which resulted in thin films. The researchers say they achieved a simple approach to introduce nitrogen atoms on graphene oxide sheets, without a toxic gas precursor and with a good doping degree control.

Read the full story Posted: Oct 29,2013

Researchers develop low-cost way to dope GNPs with Nitrogen

Researchers from Korea's Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) developed a simple and low-cost way to dope graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) with Nitrogen. These new materials may prove useful for dye-sensitized solar cells and fuel cells.

The researchers used dry ball-milling and they say that this is an efficient way to chemically modify the graphene flakes. This is more useful than current ways (most commonly the Harber-Bosch process, which requires extreme pressure and temperature conditions).

Read the full story Posted: Jul 24,2013

Mass producible 3D mesoporous graphene nanoballs for supercapacitors

Researchers from Korea's Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) developed a new way to synthesize CVD-grown 3D mesoporous graphene nanoballs (MGBs) for supercapacitor applications. The researchers say that these materials can be easily mass produced, while retaining graphene's properties.

The MGBs feature a large surface area and great conductivity. The researchers demonstrated that the capacity of supercapacitors can be improved significantly using these new materials, due to the unique mesoporous structure. This new material not only improves the capacity, but it also improves the properties of the supercapacitor (excellent capacitance even at a high current density) because the mesopores inside the graphene surfaces induce nanochannels to transport ions in electrolyte.

Read the full story Posted: Jul 10,2013

Researchers embed a LED in a soft contact lens using graphene and silver-nanowires electrode

Researchers from Korea's Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) managed to embed a LED inside a regular soft contact lens, using transparent and conductive electrodes made from graphene and silver nanowires. This is the first time an electronic device was embedded inside a contact lens using flexible and transparent materials.

The researchers final goal is to develop wearable computer displays inside contact lenses. Basically it will be like a Google Glass HMD, but without any external display components. Obviously that goal is still far in the future: currently they manged to embed just one LED and not a full display.

Read the full story Posted: Jun 09,2013

Research use edge-halogenated graphene nanoplatelets to create metal-free fuel cell catalyst

Researchers from Korea's Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), Case Western Reserve University and University of North Texas developed a new low-cost metal-free fuel cell catalyst that is based on edge-halogenated graphene nanoplatelets (XGnPs). They say that this new catalyst is a potential replacement for Platinum based ones currently used in fuel cells.

The researchers created the edge-selectively halogenated graphene nanoplatelets by ball-milling graphite flake with chlorine, bromine, or iodine. Experiments have shown that those XGnPs have great oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activities with higher tolerance to methanol crossover/CO poisoning effects and longer-term stability (this compared to the original graphite and commercial Pt/C electrocatalysts).

Read the full story Posted: Jun 07,2013

Researchers find a way to easily produce EFGnPs from graphite

Researchers from Korea's Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) developed a simple and efficient way to produce Edge-selectively functionalized graphene nanoplatelets (EFGnPs) from graphite. The researchers are actually grinding graphite using a dry ball mill. The presence of chemical vapors, liquids or solids in the ball-mill crushes results in the creation of various functional groups.

Using various microscopic and spectroscopic measurements, the reaction mechanisms for the edge functionalization of graphite was confirmed.

Read the full story Posted: Feb 14,2013