The Graphene-Info newsletter (March 1, 2023)

Today we have published the latest edition of our Graphene Construction Materials Market market report, a comprehensive guide to the world of graphene-enhanced construction materials. The report several new companies, projects and research activities involved in this exciting and promising market.

Reading this report, you'll learn all about:

• The advantages of using graphene in construction materials
• Companies involved in this industry
• Projects and trials underway today
• Research activities

The report package also provides:

• Datasheets and brochures from leading companies
• A look into how graphene can reduce carbon emissions
• A look into Chinese graphene construction materials projects
• Free updates for a year

This Graphene Construction Materials market report provides a great introduction to graphene materials used in the construction industry. It is a must-read guide for anyone interested in understanding the current market, mapping the companies involved and evaluating the future of the construction industry.

German chemicals company, Evonik, has invested an undisclosed sum in China-based battery specialist SuperC.

The Chinese company produces graphene materials for, among other applications, lithium-ion batteries. The materials are said to have the potential to solve key limitations of electric vehicles and accelerate the shift to climate-friendly mobility. 

Paragraf has announced a second manufacturing site in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, UK.    

The new site will allow Paragraf to massively increase the size of its clean room facilities and other manufacturing areas while providing additional office space. The Company plans for its staff to begin to move in during the first quarter of 2023 and production is expected to ramp up in the second half of the year. The initial expansion of staff into the Huntingdon facility will enable accelerated development of the research, development and production areas on the current Somersham site to cope with increasing customer demand as fit out of operations at the new site progresses.  

Talga Group has announced the completion of an institutional placement of A$40 million (around USD$27,316,000) from the issue of 25.8 million new fully paid ordinary Talga shares. The oversubscribed Placement, managed by Euroz Hartleys Limited, was reportedly supported by a range of new and existing sophisticated, professional and institutional investors. 

The proceeds will be used to fund Vittangi Anode Project early works, including earthworks and site infrastructure at the Luleå anode refinery site, commencement of procurement of anode equipment and detailed engineering, scaled up EVA production, silicon anode scale-up including securing commercial site, and general working capital (including costs of the Placement).

In November 2022, Applied Graphene Materials (AGM) announced that it aimed to raise money to fund its operations, but was unable to do so. AGM Later said it received non-binding indicative proposals for its sale, and now the company has announced that Universal Matter has agreed to acquire the company's assets for $1.3 million.

AGM says that that the funds from the disposal of its business and main operating subsidiary will be mostly used to repay creditors, the company's staff and operating costs until the company can be wound down.

In recent years, China has been working towards changing its IP protection system in order to encourage innovation and foreign collaboration. In the past, China has realized technology transfer mainly through acquisitions and establishing a large market for new technologies. Now the country is moving ahead with legislation to protect IP rights and eliminate unnecessary concerns in that field.

China has been putting a special emphasis on protecting IP by foreign-funded companies, creating a good environment for foreign capital investment and new businesses.

In 2020, a new set of laws, known as the “The Foreign Investment Law”, came into effect and became the basic foreign investment laws in China. The first measure to strengthen the protection of the legitimate rights and interests of foreign investment is to strengthen the protection of property rights of foreign-invested enterprises. The state protects the intellectual property rights of foreign investors and foreign-invested enterprises in accordance with the law, and encourage technical cooperation based on voluntary principles and commercial rules. Technical cooperation conditions shall be negotiated and determined by all parties involved in the investment, and administrative means shall not be used to force the transfer of technology. The government hopes that the new laws will demonstrate China’s greater protection of IP rights, and alleviate some of the current concerns. The new laws focus on foreign investors’ contributions, profits, assets, knowledge, license fees, IP infringements, legal responsibilities, and more.

The Chinese government reports that its IP system reform has achieved remarkable results, as it continues to optimize the business environment. According to a report released in 2022, foreign applicants obtained over 110,000 invention patent authorizations in China in 2021, with a 23% YoY growth, at the same time, the trademark registrations increased 5.2% to 194,000. Patent and Trademark applications by US-based enterprises increased 32.1% and 17.3%, respectively.

In 2021, the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, in its "Business Confidence Survey 2021", stated that more than 50% of interviewed companies believe that China's intellectual property law enforcement is "good enough" and "very good", which is a positive change compared to previous surveys.

The graphene industry is a good example of China’s IP environment progress. Graphene is considered a strategic technology by many countries that aim to protect their local industries. Many companies have hesitated to cooperate with Chinese graphene developers, but this is now changing.

One example is a joint R&D project between an Australian university and a China-based company, launched in 2018. The company provided the funding for a scientific research on a specific graphene composite, while both could apply for patents – the Australian side applied for a relevant patent in Australia while the Chinese company applied for a patent in China. The research activity led to the establishment of a joint-venture company in which the Australian side holds a stake. Following three years of joint development, that specific project is entering the pilot-testing stage, where the Chinese side is providing the space, equipment and funds. Several end-user companies are interested in engaging with this joint-venture company for future market adoption.

Researchers from California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and Japan's National Institute for Materials Science have shown that when tungsten diselenide is added to graphene, graphene's electrical properties can be enhanced.

When two or more graphene sheets are stacked on top of each other, the resulting material can exhibit vastly different electronic properties depending on the alignment of those sheets in relation to one another. For instance, when the second sheet of graphene is "twisted" by just 1.05 degrees (a value known as the "magic angle") in relation to the sheet it is laid on top of, the resulting stack can be either a superconductor that conducts electricity with absolutely no resistance whatsoever or an insulator that completely blocks the passage of electricity. Research conducted in 2022 shows that even untwisted graphene bilayers can exhibit superconductivity. Untwisted bilayers of graphene are easier to fabricate in bulk than their twisted counterparts, but the superconductive state in these untwisted bilayers is more delicate, harder to tune, and only occurs at temperatures that are about a hundred times lower than in twisted structures (such temperatures typically can only be achieved through the use of liquid helium). The recent research shows a way to significantly improve upon this fragile superconductivity with tungsten diselenide.

In the new work, Caltech's Stevan Nadj-Perge, assistant professor of applied physics and materials science, and his colleagues discovered that when tungsten diselenide is placed on top of graphene bilayers, the untwisted graphene's superconductivity is greatly improved. Notably, the superconducting critical temperature—that is, the warmest temperature at which the material can superconduct—is enhanced by a factor of 10. By being in close proximity to graphene, tungsten diselenide bestows the benefits of the "magic angle" twist to the more mass-producible untwisted graphene. This finding provides new insight into the nature of superconductivity and suggests strategies for enhancing superconductivity in other related graphene-based materials.

"These graphene bilayer devices are remarkably tunable," says Nadj-Perge. "For example, by applying electric fields, we can add or remove electrons from the bilayer as well as push them toward and away from tungsten diselenide. This allowed us to carefully study the enhancement of superconductivity in the system."

"The high level of tunability opens up possibilities for future applications," Nadj-Perge continues. "One of the main advantages of untwisted graphene superconductors compared to their twisted counterparts is that they are much cleaner in terms of disorder and defects, and technically much easier to fabricate. That implies these structures may be more suited for applications where one would need to make many identical copies of the same device architecture."

In November 2022, Applied Graphene Materials (AGM) announced that it aimed to raise money to fund its operations, but was unable to do so. AGM Later said it received non-binding indicative proposals for its sale, and now the company has announced that Universal Matter has agreed to acquire the company's assets for $1.3 million.

AGM says that that the funds from the disposal of its business and main operating subsidiary will be mostly used to repay creditors, the company's staff and operating costs until the company can be wound down.

Universal Matter has developed a graphene production technology based on the Rice University's proprietary Flash Joule Heating process that can convert inexpensive carbon sources into graphene layers.

Applied Graphene Materials, one of the industry pioneers, started its way in 2010 as a spin-off from Durham University, under the name Durham Graphene Science. The company commercialized  a unique graphene synthesis method and produced graphene materials. AGM was a public company that listed in the UK's AIM stock exchange (AIM:AGM). This is a sad ending, it seems, to a graphene pioneer with over 12 years of history.

AGM says that that the funds from the disposal of its business and main operating subsidiary will be mostly used to repay creditors, the company's staff and operating costs until the company can be wound down.

Universal Matter has developed a graphene production technology based on the Rice University's proprietary Flash Joule Heating process that can convert inexpensive carbon sources into graphene layers.

Applied Graphene Materials, one of the industry pioneers, started its way in 2010 as a spin-off from Durham University, under the name Durham Graphene Science. The company commercialized  a unique graphene synthesis method and produced graphene materials. AGM was a public company that listed in the UK's AIM stock exchange (AIM:AGM). This is a sad ending, it seems, to a graphene pioneer with over 12 years of history.

AGM says that that the funds from the disposal of its business and main operating subsidiary will be mostly used to repay creditors, the company's staff and operating costs until the company can be wound down.

Universal Matter has developed a graphene production technology based on the Rice University's proprietary Flash Joule Heating process that can convert inexpensive carbon sources into graphene layers.

Applied Graphene Materials, one of the industry pioneers, started its way in 2010 as a spin-off from Durham University, under the name Durham Graphene Science. The company commercialized  a unique graphene synthesis method and produced graphene materials. AGM was a public company that listed in the UK's AIM stock exchange (AIM:AGM). This is a sad ending, it seems, to a graphene pioneer with over 12 years of history.

AGM says that that the funds from the disposal of its business and main operating subsidiary will be mostly used to repay creditors, the company's staff and operating costs until the company can be wound down.

Universal Matter has developed a graphene production technology based on the Rice University's proprietary Flash Joule Heating process that can convert inexpensive carbon sources into graphene layers.

Applied Graphene Materials, one of the industry pioneers, started its way in 2010 as a spin-off from Durham University, under the name Durham Graphene Science. The company commercialized  a unique graphene synthesis method and produced graphene materials. AGM was a public company that listed in the UK's AIM stock exchange (AIM:AGM). This is a sad ending, it seems, to a graphene pioneer with over 12 years of history.

Graphene Manufacturing Group (GMG) has announced the receipt of regulatory and local council approvals for the commercial scale manufacturing of batteries at its existing Richlands site in Brisbane, Australia. To date GMG has been adhering to a research and development regulatory approval to make battery cell prototypes. In addition, this site already has council approvals that allow GMG to manufacture its graphene.

These regulatory approvals are seen an important step in GMG’s consideration at an appropriate future time to build and operate a battery manufacturing plant at the GMG Headquarters at Richlands.

GMG continues to advance its Battery Development Roadmap, including:

– Further develop, engineer, design and test battery prototype components to achieve the user-required performance data for potentially either coin cell or pouch cell battery.
– Further design engineering and production testing of manufacturing systems to enable the manufacture of the prototypes in a semi or fully-automated process.
– Solidification of necessary supply agreements.
– Full constraints analysis of the existing building – ensuring existing warehouse and electricity supply are adequate for the final plant design and fit within the constraints of the development approval.
– Delivery of the Graphene Expansion Project and review of further expansion projects as required.
– Full battery prototype testing and quality assurance to international standards, regulations and approvals where required.
– Work towards securing battery sales agreements. 
– An organizational team and financial funding requirements.
 

GMG’s Managing Director and CEO, Craig Nicol, commented: “This is another milestone in the maturation of the Company. This allows GMG to take its battery development roadmap further with reassurance that government approvals have been granted to build and operate a plant at our existing location.”

Graphenest and Hubron recently announced they have entered a strategic partnership to explore the development and commercialization of graphene-based polymer masterbatch and compounds with unprecedented electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding performance for electronic enclosures manufacturing. 

The companies explained that this new product line will start with a graphene-based thermoplastic suitable to be implemented as a remarkable EMI shielding solution in medium-high and high frequencies (for 5G and beyond).

The agreement brings together the expertise of Hubron International as specialist in black masterbatch and conductive polymers for Electric and Electronics parts and the knowledge of Graphenest around graphene production, and development of shielding products & IP.

“The combination between Graphenest technology and Hubron’s masterbatch and compound expertise will boost the innovation towards the best conductive polymers, specially made for the E-mobility and Electronics industries”, says Robert Laurent, Technical Director of Hubron.

“The usage of polymeric compounds based on graphene that can effectively shield high concentrations of microwaves and millimeter waves (5G/6G) will be crucial in the near future. We are observing a rise in interest, mostly because more electronics and e-mobility devices are linking to one another. As a result, we can no longer completely rely on traditional, unsustainable metals.”, says Bruno Figueiredo, Graphenest’s co-CEO.

SoundCell, a spin-off of TU Delft, has secured funding of €350,000 from proof-of-concept fund UNIIQ, together with Delft Enterprises. The funds will go towards facilitating the development of its graphene technology for single cell resolution antibiotic sensitivity testing.

SoundCell develops innovative technology that can measure the vibrations produced by living bacteria. This technology makes use of graphene membranes and could have significant implications for the detection and prevention of antibiotic resistance, as it would enable patients to receive effective medication against bacterial infections faster than today’s standard.

To accurately measure the vibrations of a single bacterium, SoundCell uses graphene membranes. Due to the extremely sensitive properties of graphene and the biological processes in bacteria, SoundCell provides insight into whether a bacterium is still alive (vibrating) after administering an antibiotic.

SoundCell’s first experiments with E. Coli bacteria showed that if the bacteria were resistant to the antibiotic, the vibrations continued at the same level. When the bacteria were non-resistant, the vibrations subsided after administering the drug.

The measured vibrations are extremely small, at least ten thousand times smaller than the thickness of a hair.

Current methods for measuring the antibiotic resistance of bacteria rely on their cell division time. Because bacteria divide slowly, determination can take from several days, even up to weeks, depending on the type of the microorganism. With SoundCell’s technology, however, doctors will be able to administer effective antibiotics to patients within mere hours.

The Delft start-up plans to use this new investment from UNIIQ to develop a prototype that can be used and tested in a hospital and to conduct additional clinical research.

Of the new €350,000 investment, Managing Director Irek Rosłoń comments that the funding will help SoundCell’s technology move from an academic laboratory to a more commercial environment.

“With the UNIIQ investment, we will be able to take this important step and hit the ground running,” says Rosłoń.

“We are extremely proud of achieving this milestone and look forward to using our technology to make a significant positive impact on society.”

Zhejiang Textile New Material Technology, located in Zhuji, Zhejiang, China, is currently testing its new graphene-enhanced antibacterial socks. The Company explained that the socks are first manufactured in a traditional way, then treated with a graphene antibacterial multifunctional finishing agent.

The Company stated that rigorous tests are currently being performed to see if the required effects are achieved. The team explained that generally, most countries require that the antibacterial effect should reach more than 70%. Zhejiang Textile New Material Technology’s socks reportedly reach more than 90%.

Over the years, Zhejiang Xenfang New Material Technology has focused on Zhuji’s hosiery industry and the integration and exploration of new graphene materials has opened new paths towards innovation.

The Company explains that the technology used for the production of its antibacterial multifunctional textile is a third generation technology, compared with the fiber modification and textile raw material finishing technologies of the previous two generations, with better performance and quality.

Zhang Qi, general manager of Zhejiang Textile New Material Technology, stated: "Graphene materials combined with nano-oxides can give full play to its antibacterial and antibacterial effects. On top of that, we will deploy other functions to make it a compound multi-functional product, so that the downstream textile products In terms of products, the functionality and added value of the products will be greatly improved”. 

As a newly established scientific and technological innovation enterprise, Zhejiang Textile New Material Technology was established by Xi'an Polytechnic University’s Technical team, to use graphene antibacterial multifunctional textile technology to make socks. 

The production capacity of the antibacterial multi-functional socks has opened up an innovation path of low-cost production of antibacterial and deodorant socks for Zhuji's hosiery industry.

"As far as socks are concerned, the entire market size is at least tens of billions." Zhang Qi said and explained that next, they will work on lowering costs so that they can make high-end and fashionable products popular and affordable.