Sebastian Leaper on how he’s making clean drinking water more accessible using graphene.
Demand for higher bandwidth has led to research on unexplored frequency spectrums, such as the terahertz-band for 5G. The first flexible graphene-based terahertz detector will enable new applications in sensing and Internet of Things. The unique electronic properties of graphene, combined with its flexible nature and ease of deposition makes it a promising material to integrate electronics into plastics and fabrics, which will be the building blocks of a future truly interconnected world.
Researchers at Manchester University’s National Graphene Institute (NGI) have assembled 2D materials with sub-nanometre slits that hold potential for water desalination. The materials are made from graphene, hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) and molybdenum disulphide (MoS2). According to the researchers, they were able to manufacture slits in these materials just several angstroms (0.1nm) in diameter. At this scale, it was possible to study how individual ions behaved while passing through the slits. The work, which is published in the journal Science, also sheds light on how similar scale biological filters function in nature.
Researchers in the UK (the University of Manchester) and Italy (the University of Pisa) have developed an inkjet-printed graphene strain gauge sensor on paper. The device is said to have a gauge factor of up to 125 even when very small strains are applied, and its overall sensitivity and performance can be tuned by different printing parameters, such as drop-spacing and number of printing passes. It might be used in applications like robot skin and health monitoring applications, and in smart packaging.
Researchers at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) are developing a water treatment system based on a mix of graphene oxide and a byproduct made from shrimp shells.
The ability to charge cellphones in seconds is one step closer after researchers at the University of Waterloo used nanotechnology to significantly improve energy-storage devices known as supercapacitors.
Lithium-ion batteries are used to power many things from mobile phones, laptops, tablets to electric cars. But they have some drawbacks, including limited energy storage capacity, low durability and long charging time.
OLED displays are very sensitive to oxygen and moisture, and the need to protect the displays is one of the major challenges of this next-generation display technology. First generation OLED displays were protected with a glass barrier, but glass is not easily flexible and so cannot be used in flexible OLEDs. Flexible OLEDs are today encapsulation with a thin-film encapsulation layer made from both organic and in-organic materials, and companies are searching for better OLED encapsulation technologies.
The University of Mississippi has established a new center to advance translational science and engineering of graphene-based technologies. The Center for Graphene Research and Innovation will focus on bridging the gap between university-based science and discovery and industry-led innovations and applications for graphene.
Scientists at the University of Sussex may have found a solution to the long-standing problem of brittle smartphone screens.
Professor Alan Dalton and his team have developed a new way to make smartphone touch screens that are cheaper, less brittle, and more environmentally friendly. On top of that, the new approach also promises devices that use less energy, are more responsive, and do not tarnish in the air.