Graphene has the potential to create the next-generation of electronics currently limited to sci-fi. Faster transistors; semiconductors; bendable phones and other electronics.
The authors report on fundamental aspects of spin dynamics in heterostructures of graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs). By using realistic models derived from first principles they computed the spin lifetime anisotropy, defined as the ratio of lifetimes for spins pointing out of the graphene plane to those pointing in the plane.
Bringing together researchers from different science and engineering fields for Materials Day Symposium promises solutions to energy, health, and other needs.
Researchers from Empa and ETH Zürich have used graphene, waste graphite and scrap metal to make low-cost batteries.
The researchers’ ambitious goal at Empa is to make a battery out of the most common elements in the Earth’s crust – such as magnesium or aluminum. These metals offer a high degree of safety, even if the anode is made of pure metal. This also offers the opportunity to assemble the batteries in a very simple and inexpensive way and to rapidly upscale the production. To make such batteries work, the liquid electrolyte needs to consist of special ions that do not crystallize at room temperature. The researchers were looking for a suitable cathode material, and decided to turn the principle of the lithium ion battery upside down.
Biosensor technology can detect a biological event by the production of a measurable signal. The process of detection combines a recognition element for a type of biomolecule or chemical reaction with a transducer which provides the signal.
Biosensors can be utilized for the identification of biological analytes such as antibodies, enzymes, organelles and microorganisms. Graphene is a carbon material in a honeycomb structure with one-atom thickness that is successfully being employed in the development of new biosensors.
After a long summer of hard work in the laboratories, researchers in the Graphene Flagship are ready for two experiments this week, testing graphene technologies for space-related applications in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA).
China-based The Sixth Element Materials launched its graphene-zinc anti-corrosion primer back in 2015, and the company has since performed extensive testing. TSE updates us that the material has now been deployed in China and has been used to cover several bridges and wind-turbines steel towers.
Teams from the University of York and Roma Tre University state that ultra-low-power transistors could be built using composite materials based on single layers of graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDC). These materials, they note, could be used to achieve a sought-after electrical control over electron spin.
Previously graphene-oxide membranes were shown to be completely impermeable to all solvents except for water. However, a study published in Nature Materials, now shows that we can tailor the molecules that pass through these membranes by simply making them ultrathin.
Liquid-phase exfoliation of nanosheets from bulk materials is generally achieved by high-energy processes like ultrasonication, coupled with chemical treatments to prevent reaggregation. Such methods can be effective and inexpensive, but monolayers usually make up no more than a few per cent of the yield, and residual chemical additives can compromise the properties of the resulting products.