The Wuxi Graphene Industry Development & Demonstration Zone (in Wuxi, China – near Shanghai) is an impressive graphene center. The center recently renovated its demonstration room, and sent us this video showcasing the many graphene products and materials under development or in production at the center.
The Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) and the National Graphene Institute (NGI) at The University of Manchester have published a joint paper on the potential of graphene in aerospace, or more precisely the potential market opportunities available to UK aerospace companies. Organizations that also worked on the paper included the University of Central Lancashire, the Center for Process Innovation, QinetiQ, Morson Projects Limited …
Fertilisers with lower environmental impacts and reduced costs for farmers are being developed by University of Adelaide researchers in the world-first use of the new advanced material graphene as a fertiliser carrier.
A U.S-based startup called Promethient Inc. has developed a new graphene-enhanced seat warmer technology that it says is more efficient and durable than similar available systems. The company has developed the Thermavance conductive heat transfer system, which uses conduction of heat as opposed to most of the other technologies that rely on transfer of heat through convection for the purpose of warming seats.
Graphene has become quite the topic since it was first isolated in 2004, and the subsequent Nobel Prize in Physics that was awarded to two Manchester scientists in 2010, has the potential to positively impact aircraft performance, cost and fuel efficiency. The wonder material has been jointly explored by the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) and the National Graphene Institute (NGI) to help better understand potential market opportunities available to UK aerospace companies.
Working in close partnership with the NGI, the University of Central Lancashire, the Centre for Process Innovation, QinetiQ, Morson Projects Limited, and Haydale Limited with input from Ekosgen, we have brought together a sector perspective of where there are potential opportunities for organisations to benefit from investing in graphene. The findings and recommendations have been published in the form of an ATI INSIGHT paper which can be downloaded here.
Back in January, scientists in Andre Geim’s research team at the University of Manchester reported that light could be used to enhance proton transport through graphene. What this means is the possibility of an entirely new class of photodetectors, which are used in just about everything from high-speed optical communication networks to the remote control for your TV.
A team led by the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, that also included scientists from University of Tennessee, Rice University and New Mexico State University, has developed a new method to produce large, monolayer single-crystal-like graphene films more than a foot long. The novel technique may open new opportunities for producing high-quality graphene of unlimited size and in a way that is suitable for roll-to-roll production.
It’s strong, it’s flexible, and it’s here. After a long time cooking in the labs, the first graphene-based products are beginning to trickle out into the world of smartphones, wearables, batteries, virtual reality, sports equipment, super-capacitors and supercars.
Researchers at the Science Foundation Ireland-funded AMBER Materials Science Center have developed a new graphene-infused collagen-based biomaterial which they say may in time be capable of regenerating heart, nerve, spinal cord, brain and other tissue that responds to an electrical stimulus. The material also has the added bonus of being able to fight infection.
A simple system made from two sheets of graphene has been converted from an insulator to a superconductor. The finding holds promise for opening up studies of an unconventional form of superconductivity.