Graphene-Info newsletter

Talga launches commercial-scale trial of graphene coating on ocean-going cargo vessel

Talga Resources, advanced battery anode materials and graphene additives provider, has announced a commercial-scale trial of a graphene-enhanced coating applied to a 33,000 tonne container ship. The freshly coated ship is now at sea and over the coming 12-18 months the Talphene-coated area will be evaluated in the harsh real life conditions of global cargo shipping.

The 700m² coating of the cargo vessel’s hull is part of advanced testing of Talga’s functionalized graphene (Talphene) additive as a performance booster for existing commercial marine coatings. The commercial-scale application follows completion of in-house development and patent pending technology that translates graphene’s mechanical properties into paint and coatings. The result is expected to be a range of environmental and economic benefits, which for marine applications such as shipping and offshore infrastructure includes improved corrosion resistance, decreased metallic paint loss into oceanic ecosystems and increased efficiency through lowering dry docking cycles.

Directa Plus and Skanska launch trial of graphene-enhanced asphalt and Skanska is also on its way to further trial the asphalt on the M25

Directa Plus announced the start of a trial of re-surfacing a section of a UK road in Curbridge, Oxfordshire with materials containing its G+ graphene substance. The trial will be in collaboration with Skanska, the leading Sweden-based project development and construction group. Directa Plus partnered with Iterchimica, an Italy-based leader in products that enhance asphalt performance, to carry out the trial.

For the trial, the companies will refurbish the two upper layers of a 750m-long section of road, comparing asphalt concrete containing the graphene super modifier.

In addition, Skanska also mentioned that it is in talks with Connect Plus to trial the graphene-enhanced asphalt on the UK's M25.

Applied Graphene Materials and JBL both start commercial sale of graphene-enhanced primers

Applied Graphene Materials has announced that its graphene primer product is now on sale at Halfords, the UK's leading retailer of motoring, cycling and leisure products and services.

James Briggs (JBL) has also launched its Hycote graphene anti-corrosion primer, developed in collaboration with AGM, for sale on Amazon, and through Tetrosyl Express, the largest supplier of car care, parts and accessories in the UK.

NanoGraphene and Solar Quartz Technologies to work together on graphene-enhanced solar products

NanoGraphene has teamed up with Solar Quartz to develop graphene-enhanced solar industry products and new applications. The two companies aim to enhance the generating potential of solar panels to above 40%.

The partners plan to utilize their extensive experience and knowledge of high purity quartz and solar-grade silicon production industries together to develop new graphene-enhanced solar grade materials, applications and products with remarkable new attributes.

The intent of the Joint Venture is to initiate development of the exciting new combination materials of graphene and silicon not presently in existence. The NGI and GSTX JV provides for establishing a jointly-located research and development facility to also develop graphene-enabled high-end electronics grade materials utilizing GSTX’s long experience in the field of producing electronic grade high purity quartz sand and solar-grade silicon for solar cells.

Graphene-based nanosensor detects microscopic contaminants in water

Researchers from Iowa State University’s (ISU) Department of Mechanical Engineering, led by Dr. Jonathan Claussen, have developed a graphene-enhanced sensor that can detect organophosphates at levels 40 times smaller than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommendations. Organophosphates are certain classes of insecticides used on crops throughout the world to kill insects.

Claussen and his team have developed Salt Impregnated Inkjet Maskless Lithography (SIIML), which uses an inkjet printer to create inexpensive graphene circuits with high electrical conductivity. They add salts to the ink, which is later washed away to leave microsized divots or craters in the surface. This textured printed graphene surface is able to bind with pesticide-sensing enzymes to increase sensitivity during pesticide biosensing.

These sensors can detect contaminants as small as 0.6 nanometers (nM) in length, well below the EPA standard of 24 nM and Canada’s standard of 170 nM.

This technology can be adapted for field use to detect a wide range of samples, including pathogens in food and fertilizer in soil and water. The technology is so inexpensive, Claussen said, that sensors could be used across an entire farm field to monitor pesticides and fertilizers so that farmers could limit their use and apply only what is truly needed.

Advanced materials company Versarien recently shared that it has signed a commercial partnership agreement with textile-sector company MAS Innovation.

Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences have fabricated a graphene-based transistor with a Schottky emitter - a silicon-graphene-germanium transistor.

A Rutgers University-led team has created what it is calling a "better biosensor technology that may help lead to safe stem cell therapies for treating Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases and other neurological disorders".

The NanoEDGE BMBF-Project, coordinated by the Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering IBMT, aims to develop a graphene-based ink for inkjet printing and a scalable printing process as well as a resource-efficient process chain for the production of electrodes for direct skin contact.

Archer Materials (formerly Archer Exploration) has reported progressing its graphene-based biosensor technology development by building a first-phase prototype device to test the printing and performance of graphene inks.

A team of researchers at IIT-Gandhinagar in India has discovered an unexpected phenomenon that could have significant implications on the existing protocols followed to synthesize graphene and other two dimensional (2D) nanomaterials.

Global Graphene Group (G3) has announced the signing of a joint development agreement (JDA) with a major Taiwan-based manufacturer to incorporate graphene-enhanced materials into polyetheretherketone (PEEK)-based products for the semiconductor industry in portions of Asia.

A team of researchers at the Institute of Basic Science in Korea recently released the results of a study that indicates stress stimulates further reactions in graphene and may actually be beneficial for its functionality.