Graphene’s ability to detect a variety of chemical and biological molecules would seem to make it a perfect match for sensors. But because graphene is a conductor and lacks an inherent band gap, it’s hard to fashion the material into a transistor that can be turned on and off.
In order to make a sensor out of graphene, you need to use multiple layers of the material, which leads to high levels of electronic noise and reduces its effectiveness.
FLAG-ERA has announced the outcome of its second Joint Transnational Call for projects in synergy with the Graphene Flagship and the Human Brain Project (FLAG-ERA JTC 2017). Relating to the Graphene Flagship, in total 17 basic and applied research projects have been recommended for funding to the national research funding organisations by the FLAG-ERA JTC 2017 Call Steering Committee. The actual funding of the projects depends on the successful completion of the final funding decisions and contract negotiations at the national level.
Researchers at the University of Waterloo managed to significantly improve supercapacitors, by combining graphene with an oily liquid salt in the supercapacitors’ electrodes.
The researchers explained that the liquid salt serves as a spacer to separate the thin graphene sheets, preventing them from stacking. That dramatically increases their exposed surface area, a key to maximizing energy-storage capacity. At the same time, the liquid salt doubles as the electrolyte needed to actually store electrical charge, minimizing the size and weight of the supercapacitor.
Graphene, known worldwide as a potential wonder material, is asserting its dominance across nanotechnology, materials science, chemistry and physics fields. New research is being published all the time, be it in small open-access journals or high impact paywall journals. Industry is advancing at a fast pace and is being governed by organizations such as the National Graphene Association (NGA, Mississippi, USA) and the National Graphene Institute (NGI, Manchester, UK).
Andrew Wilkinson of Graphene Enabled Systems says many businesses are poised, ready to pounce on the opportunities graphene could bring.
Image sticking phenomena in liquid crystal (LC) devices became obvious soon after the production of the first nematic LC displays and have been a concern ever since.
A new research centre at the University of Manchester in England aimed at marketing products and technologies made from a “wonder material” known as graphene will be called The Masdar Building.
Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, better known as Masdar, is the principal funder of the purpose-built Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC), which held its formal topping out ceremony.
The use of graphene in the growing field known as plasmonics—in which the waves of electrons known as surface plasmons that are generated when photons strike a metallic structure—has been transforming the world of photonics and optoelectronics, enabling the possibility of much smaller devices operated by photons rather than electrons.
Scientists at Rutgers University-New Brunswick have found a way to control the electrons in graphene, paving the way for the ultra-fast transport of electrons with low loss of energy in novel systems. “This shows we can electrically control the electrons in graphene,” said a professor in Rutgers’ Department of Physics and Astronomy. “In the past, we couldn’t do it. This is the reason people thought that one could not make devices like transistors that require switching with graphene, because their electrons run wild.”
Adding a specialized form of graphene to gas sensors can imbue these machines with significantly heightened sensitivity compared to traditional counterparts.
Engineers from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Russia’s Saratov State Technical University created a new of type of nano-ribbon derived from the 2D honeycomb of carbon atoms, which stand vertically rather than lying flat on a surface.