Nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes or modified graphene nanoribbons could be effective, less costly replacements for expensive platinum in fuel cells, according to a new study. In fuel cells, platinum is used for fast oxygen reduction, the key reaction that transforms chemical energy into electricity.
There is an astonishing amount of work being done on graphene around the world. Nearly twenty five thousand scientific papers were published in 2016 alone, (the data for 2017 will be available soon). That’s over sixty-five papers each day, every day of the year.
Sick babies in remote parts of the world could be monitored from afar thanks to new wearable technology designed by physicists at the University of Sussex. And parents at home, concerned about the risk of cot death, could keep track of their new babies’ heart and breathing rates with automatic updates to their smart phones, using ‘fitness tracker’-style technology built into baby sleep suits.
As the world’s power needs grow, the search is on for better battery technology — not just to keep smartphones charged for longer,…
Last year saw the world’s first ISO standard for graphene being published which defines the terminology used to describe the material. Soon after, there were good practice guidelines for characterisation also released by the NGI and NPL. As a result, the industry is now able to achieve more robust testing and validation of graphene products.
Researchers at The University of Manchester have devised graphene sensors embedded into RFIDs, which have the potential to revolutionise the Internet of Things (IoT).
By layering graphene-oxide (a derivative of graphene) over graphene to create a flexible heterostructure the team have developed humidity sensors for remote sensing with the ability to connect to any wireless network.
Aluminum-ion batteries (AIB) have significant merits of low cost, non-flammability, and high-capacity metallic aluminum anodes based on three-electron redox properties. However, due to its inadequate cathodic performance, especially in terms of capacity, high-rate capability, and cycle life, AIB still cannot compete with Li-ion batteries and supercapacitors.
New approaches to filtration and extracting moisture from air promise to alleviate the world’s looming water scarcity crisis.
Filtration is being transformed by thin sheets of graphene, a carbon-based material invented in 2004 at Manchester University. Rahul Raveendran Nair, the university’s professor of materials physics, says graphene has the potential to deliver large quantities of clean water via desalination and the removal of pollutants.
Researchers from Rice University have discovered that nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes or modified graphene nanoribbons could potentially replace platinum, one of the most expensive facets in fuel cells, for performing fast oxygen reduction—a crucial reaction that transforms chemical energy into electricity.
A team of physicists from Cornell University in the US has developed electricity-conducting, environment-sensing, shape-changing robots the size of a human cell.
The robots – described in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences – are made from atomically thin layers of graphene and glass. Known as biomorphs, the tiny machines bend when exposed to stimuli including heat, chemical reactions or electricity. They can transform in a fraction of a second from two dimensional planes into complex three-dimensional forms such as tetrahedra and cubes.