Entries by John Are Beukes

Graphene – the not-so wonder material?

Graphene was meant to transform everything from the car tyre to the condom. There has never been so much hype around a new material. It’s easy to see why: its sheets of carbon atoms are incredibly strong, super-elastic and conduct heat better than most metals. The problem with graphene, however, is that it has yet […]

How dopants induce plasmon decay in graphene

For centuries, metals were employed in optical applications only as mirrors and gratings. New vistas opened up in the late 1970s and early 1980s with the discovery of surface-enhanced Raman scattering and the use of surface plasmon (collective electronic oscillations at the surface of metals) resonances for sensing. However, it was not until the 1990s, […]

Development accelerates in the graphene technologies

Back in 2004, two Russian scientists at the UK’s University of Manchester managed to produce the world’s first two-dimensional material by isolating a single layer of graphite atoms, something researchers had been attempting to achieve since the 70s, which eventually earned the Manchester-based team a Nobel prize in 2010. While numerous developments, such as carbon […]

Graphene-based cell-sized robots are on their way

Researchers from Cornell have developed tiny graphene-enhanced robot exoskeletons that can rapidly change shape upon sensing chemical or thermal changes in its environment. And, they claim, these microscale machines – equipped with electronic, photonic and chemical payloads – could become a powerful platform for robotics at the size scale of biological microorganisms. “We are trying […]

First purchase agreement for sale of GQDs with Colorplastic

Following Dotz Nano’s MoU with Colorplastic to develop GQDs-enhanced polymers and surface modificants in October 2017, the Company announced its first major purchasing agreement for the sale of GQDs with Colorplastic. According to the said agreement, Colorplastic agreed to purchase $300,000 USD of GQDs per annum. The price per kg is not disclosed in order […]

Lightweight, self-sterilizing graphene-enhanced shoes

Chinese footwear producers are reportedly focusing on graphene-enhanced shoes that are lightweight, self-sterilizing and deodorizing. In Jinjiang City, Fujian, China’s largest production center for sports shoes, footware makers are adding graphene powder to soles, according to Xu Zhi of the Graphene Industry and Technology Research Institute in Jinjiang.