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.
Researchers at the AMBER Centre in Dublin have unveiled a new biomaterial capable of regenerating diseased heart tissue for the benefit of cardiac patients. One of the biggest challenges to the recovery of someone who has experienced a major physical trauma such as a heart attack is the growth of scar tissue.
Mobile World Congress is the world’s biggest exhibition focused on high-tech and mobile applications. With over 107 000 attendees from across the technology ecosystem and including a significant proportion of senior-level industry representatives, the 2018 Mobile World Congress was the ideal place for the Graphene Flagship to demonstrate progress in graphene.
Colloidal plasmonic metal nanoparticles are capable of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) for various analytical fields. Despite steady efforts to establish hot spots and obtain optimal SERS signals, it remains a challenge to ensure the accessibility and high density for enhancing Raman activity.
A team of Chinese scientists from South China Normal University and Beihang University has used graphene to create an artificial gas detector that is as good as a dog’s nose. Their work showed that the graphene-based nanoscrolls can mimic a dog’s sensitive sniffer, which is lined with millions of tiny capillaries. Since the capillaries cover such a large surface area, they can detect smells at extremely low concentrations.
The PolyGraph project, a 4-year development project with aims to develop new production techniques to deliver industrial scale quantities of graphene-reinforced thermosetting polymers, has published its results.
University of Adelaide researchers are developing fertilizers with a graphene carrier that could lower environmental impacts and reduce costs for farmers. In partnership with industry, the researchers have demonstrated effective slow release fertilizers can be produced from loading essential trace elements onto graphene oxide sheets.
Almost a century after Heike Kamerlingh Onnes first discovered superconductivity, the factors that determine whether a system will be superconducting and at what temperature remain hard to pin down. However, advances in nanotechnology have given some good pointers where to look, as well as providing promising systems for exploiting superconductivity in real-world applications.