When it comes to graphene research centers, one would be likely to think of Manchester (UK) where the National Graphene Institute (NGI) has its own center and is in the process of building a second– The Graphene Engineering and Innovation Centre (GEIC). However, there is a new center that has recently been established at the University of Mississippi (USA) in a joint collaborative venture between the University and the National Graphene Association (NGA).
Speaking in the session on Graphene and Emerging 2D Materials for Photonics Applications in Coventry, UK, last month, Anna Baldycheva of the University of Exeter, UK, claimed that the discovery of 2D materials has prompted a renaissance in the area of liquid crystals. One technique that has been made possible by the reinvigoration of this field was the subject of Baldycheva’s presentation: the integration of microfluidic channel-hosted dispersions of 2D materials with silicon wafer-based photonic devices.
Graphene is at the core of the largest European research initiative to date, The Graphene Flagship, but within this megaproject there are also studies of other two-dimensional materials, such as transition metal dichalcogenides (TMD). The interesting properties of TMDs can be applied in electronics, spintronics and a third field: valleytronics, as the physicist Dr Lucian Covaci of the University of Antwerp explains in this interview.
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.