A Northwestern University team is reshaping the world of graphene—literally. The team has turned graphene oxide (GO) into a soft, moldable and kneadable play dough that can be shaped and reshaped into free-standing, three-dimensional structures. Called “GO dough,” the product might be fun to play with, but it’s more than a toy. The malleable material…
Ford, XG Sciences Go Under the Hood with Graphene
Innovative Technology for Highly Ordered Arrays of ‘Graphene Quantum Dot’
A new study, affiliated with UNIST has introduced a novel technology, capable of fabricating highly ordered arrays of graphene quantum dot (GQD). The new technology is expected to pave the way for many other types of devices and physical phenomena to be studied. This breakthrough has been led by Professor Hyeon Suk Shin in the…
Graphene’s Properties Change in Humid Conditions
Graphene exhibits very different properties in humid conditions, according to researchers from Queen Mary University of London. The “wonder material,” which is made from carbon and was discovered in 2004, is hailed for many of its extraordinary characteristics including being stronger than steel, more conductive than copper, light, flexible and transparent. This study, published in…
Graphene Nanoribbons Produced on Large Scale for Electronics
Two-dimensional sheets of graphene in the form of ribbons a few tens of nanometers across have unique properties that are highly interesting for use in future electronics. Researchers have now for the first time fully characterized nanoribbons grown in both the two possible configurations on the same wafer with a clear route towards upscaling the…
Promising Advancements Made in Chemical Vapor Deposition
A research group at Boise State University led by Assistant Professor David Estrada of the Micron School of Materials Science and Engineering has released the open-source design of a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) system for two-dimensional (2D) materials growth, an advance which could lower the barrier of entry into 2D materials research and expedite 2D…
Seeding Large Single-Crystal Graphene for Photonics Applications
Graphene and Bacteria Used in Bacteria-Killing Water Filter
More than one in 10 people in the world lack basic drinking water access, and by 2025, half of the world’s population will be living in water-stressed areas, which is why access to clean water is one of the National Academy of Engineering’s Grand Challenges. Engineers at Washington University in St. Louis have designed a…
Using 3D Printing, Researchers Combine Graphene Oxide, Seaweed- Derived Material to Create Smart Hydrogel
Defects Lead to Amazing Properties in 2D Materials
Amid the frenzy of worldwide research on atomically thin materials like graphene, there is one area that has eluded any systematic analysis—even though this information could be crucial to a host of potential applications, including desalination, DNA sequencing, and devices for quantum communications and computation systems. That missing information has to do with the kinds…
Revolutionary Microfluidics-Enabled Manufacturing of Macroscopic Graphene Fibers
A team of researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has developed a new microfluidics-assisted technique for developing high-performance macroscopic graphene fibers. Graphene fiber, a recently discovered member of the carbon fiber family, has potential applications in diverse technological areas, from energy storage, electronics and optics, electro-magnetics, thermal conductor and thermal management, to structural applications. Their findings…
Graphene Utilized for High-Speed Optical Communications
The Graphene Flagship program aims to act as a catalyst for the development of groundbreaking applications by bringing together academia and industry to take this versatile material into society within 10 years. The importance of integrating graphene in silicon photonics was evident in the joint results produced by the collaboration between Flagship partners AMO GmbH…
Graphene Helps Atomic-Scale Capillaries Block Smallest Ions
Researchers at The University of Manchester’s National Graphene Institute in the UK have succeeded in making artificial channels just one atom in size for the first time. The new capillaries, which are very much like natural protein channels such as aquaporins, are small enough to block the flow of smallest ions like Na+ and Cl-…
Graphene Could Help Diagnose ALS
White Graphene ‘Super Sponge’ Cleans Up Oil Spills
They call it “magnetic boron nitride (MBN)” but what a team of engineering researchers at the University of Calgary has developed, to put it simply, is a super sponge for soaking up aquatic oil spills. Not only does the non-toxic biodegradable material, consisting of magnetic nanostructured white graphene, absorb crude oil at up to 53…
New Technology Could Be the Future of Brain-computer Interfaces
The body of knowledge about the human brain is growing exponentially, but questions big and small remain unanswered. Researchers have been using electrode arrays to map electrical activity in different brain regions to understand brain function. Until now, however, these arrays have only been able to detect activity over a certain frequency threshold. A new…
Nanographene Embraces the Zigzag Pattern
Graphene is a promising material for use in nanoelectronics. Its electronic properties depend greatly, however, on how the edges of the carbon layer are formed. Zigzag patterns are particularly interesting in this respect, but until now it has been virtually impossible to create edges with a pattern like this. Chemists and physicists at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität (FAU)…
Researchers Explore Possibilities of Photonic Integrated Circuits
The transition from electronic integrated circuits to faster, more energy-efficient and interference-free optical circuits is one of the most important goals in the development of photon technologies. Photonic integrated circuits (PICs) are already used today for transmitting and processing signals in optical networks and communication systems, including, for example, I/O multiplexers of optical signals and…
Physicists Track “Lifetime” of Graphene Qubits
Researchers from MIT and elsewhere have recorded, for the first time, the “temporal coherence” of a graphene qubit — meaning how long it can maintain a special state that allows it to represent two logical states simultaneously. The demonstration, which used a new kind of graphene-based qubit, represents a critical step forward for practical quantum…
Graphene Oxide Coating Makes Munitions Go Further, Faster
Researchers from the U.S. Army and top universities discovered a new way to get more energy out of energetic materials containing aluminum, common in battlefield systems, by igniting aluminum micron powders coated with graphene oxide. This discovery coincides with the one of the Army’s modernization priorities: Long Range Precision Fires. This research could lead to…
For Graphene, the Magic Lies in the Defects
A team of researchers at the New York University Tandon School of Engineering and NYU Center for Neural Science has solved a longstanding puzzle of how to build ultra-sensitive, ultra-small electrochemical sensors with homogenous and predictable properties by discovering how to engineer graphene structure on an atomic level. Finely tuned electrochemical sensors (also referred to…
New Technique Revolutionizes Graphene Printed Electronics
A team of researchers based at The University of Manchester have found a low cost method for producing graphene printed electronics, which significantly speeds up and reduces the cost of conductive graphene inks. Printed electronics offer a breakthrough in the penetration of information technology into everyday life. The possibility of printing electronic circuits will further…
Graphene Takes a Hike
New Graphene Discovery Could Produce Superior Solar Panels
An international research team, co-led by a physicist at the University of California, Riverside, has discovered a new mechanism for ultra-efficient charge and energy flow in graphene, opening up opportunities for developing new types of light-harvesting devices. The researchers fabricated pristine graphene — graphene with no impurities — into different geometric shapes, connecting narrow ribbons…
Nanostructured Graphene Creates Unique Chemical Reaction
Graphene monolayers can be epitaxially grown on many single-crystal metal surfaces under ultra-high vacuum. On one side, these monolayers protect highly reactive metallic surfaces from contaminants, but on the other side, the piling of the layers as graphitic carbon blocks the activity of transition metal catalysts. The inertness of the graphite and the physical blockage…