Entries by John Are Beukes

Process to transition two-layer graphene into diamond-hard material on impact discovered

Imagine a material as flexible and lightweight as foil that becomes stiff and hard enough to stop a bullet on impact. In a newly published paper in Nature Nanotechnology, researchers across The City University of New York (CUNY) describe a process for creating diamene: flexible, layered sheets of graphene that temporarily become harder than diamond […]

Graphene unlocks the promise of lithium sulfur batteries

Many battery scientists are interested in the potential of lithium sulfur batteries because, at least in theory, they offer a high energy density at relatively low cost. However, lithium sulfur batteries face a number of challenges, including the low electrical conductivity of sulfur and the tendency of the cathode to expand significantly in size during […]

Fast flowing heat in layered material heterostructures

Graphene Flagship scientists, led by researchers at ICFO – The Institute of Photonic Sciences in Barcelona, Spain, have detected graphene’s out-of-plane heat transfer in van der Waals heterostructures. In their paper published in Nature Nanotechnology they follow this process in real-time.  This phenomenon has many implications for optoelectronic devices.

Ultrafast all-climate aluminum-graphene battery with quarter-million cycle life

Rechargeable aluminum-ion batteries are promising in high-power density but still face critical challenges of limited lifetime, rate capability, and cathodic capacity. The authors design a “trihigh tricontinuous” (3H3C) graphene film cathode with features of high quality, orientation, and channeling for local structures (3H) and continuous electron-conducting matrix, ion-diffusion highway, and electroactive mass for the whole […]

Graphene in zero G promises success in space

In a successful collaboration between the Graphene Flagship and the European Space Agency, experiments testing graphene for two different space-related applications have shown extremely promising results. Based on these results, the Flagship are continuing to develop graphene devices for use in space.

Elcora Advanced Materials to develop graphene-infused Lithium-ion batteries for fast charge applications

Elcora Advanced Materials has announced the development of graphene-infused lithium-ion batteries for fast charge applications. Elcora states that its expertise in graphene and lithium-ion battery technology will assist in this project, and that it is presently working with strategic partners (as well as in its in-house Lithium-Ion R&D Battery Lab) in development of applications.