Italy based Directa Plus, a producer and supplier of graphene-based products for use in consumer and industrial markets, has announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Directa Plus S.p.A., has acquired a 60% interest in the issued share capital of Osmotek, a company involved in the commercialisation and distribution of textile membranes. The Directors of the company believe that the EUR 60,000 acquisition will enhance the route-to-market for its textile applications. The company has assumed responsibility for the operations of Osmotek, which has been renamed Directa Textile Solutions Srl (DTS).
Graphene 3D Lab Inc. and Stony Brook University have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) to collaborate with the University’s divisions of Center for Integrated Electrical Energy Systems (“CIEES”) and Center for Advanced Technology in Sensors (“Sensor CAT”). The joint research will aim at developing technology for a light-weight lithium-ion battery pack with the intended use for aerial drones and mobile robots. Graphene 3D will supply advanced carbon nano-composites materials to CIEES needed to manufacture and test lithium-ion electrical batteries. The Company will also have access to the CIEES facilities to perform structural and chemical analysis for quality assurance measurements.Avanzare Innovacion Technologica has introduced to the market a graphene additive for industrial resins used for corrosion-resistant tanks and pipes for storage and transport of potentially explosive chemicals. Their product will be showcased at the Composites Europe exhibition, running from the 29 November to 1 December in Düsseldorf, Germany. “Due to the electrical conductivity of graphene, one can avoid explosions due to electrostatic charges,” explained Julio Gomez Cordon, founder and CEO of Avanzare. “Now, thanks to the graphene, we can produce vessels and equipment in resins instead of the usual metals. The resins are also cheaper, lighter and with very good corrosion resistance.”
Versarien has acquired AAC Cyroma, a specialist plastic manufacturer, for £1.4m to establish a dedicated graphene plastic manufacturing factory. Using Versarien’s graphene manufacturing capabilities and AAC Cyroma’s knowledge, plant and equipment, the acquisition will aim to enable the company to produce graphene-enhanced products, including automotive-related original equipment.
The development of artificial taste sensors (electronic tongues/E-tongues) has been on-going for a number of years and there is demand for their application in the food, beverage and cosmetic industries. E-tongues provide taste assessment of complex mixtures of dissolved organic or inorganic compounds. However, existing technology has limitations, mainly due to failure to mimic human taste reception.
Research led by the School of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Seoul National University has resulted in the development of a graphene-enabled bio-electronic tongue (E-tongue) that can successfully identify two taste sensations, sweet and savoury.
The duplex bioelectronic tongue (DBT) is based on graphene field-effect transistors that were functionalized with heterodimeric human umami taste and sweet taste receptor nanovesicles.
The tongue is reportedly 10-thousand times more effective in sensing “sweet” flavours compared to the human tongue, opening up development opportunities in the food and beverage industry.
Further information is available at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27327579 “Duplex Bioelectronic Tongue for Sensing Umami and Sweet Tastes Based on Human Taste Receptor Nanovesicles”.
A graphene oxide (GO) sensor co-developed by the ICN2 Nanobioelectronics and Biosensors group, led by Prof. Arben Merkoçi and his PhD student Luis Pires, has been offered since middle September by Biolin Scientific, an instrumentation company. This synergy between the research and development was facilitated by ICN2 Knowledge and Technology Transfer Department, which established the contact between the Institute and the company to discuss the application of the graphene patterning technology in the field of QCM-D sensing. The Q-Sense GO sensor enables interaction studies of GO with various analytes (measured substances) of interest and may open the way to various applications with interest for diagnostics, safety/security and environmental monitoring.
Tianjin High-tech Area (THT) has announced a cooperation with UK-based Allied Vehicles Group and the National Institute of Graphene at Manchester University (http://www.graphene.manchester.ac.uk) on the development of graphene-enhanced batteries for new energy vehicles (NEV).
Researchers at the TIFR Centre for Interdisciplinary Sciences (TCIS), Hyderabad, and Central Electrochemical Research Institute, Karaikudi, have developed a material which, when coated on other substrates, can render them both water repellent (hydrophobic) and oil repellent (oleophobic).
“We are on the way to ensuring its protection via proper IP. A few companies and persons already have shown interest in different aspects of this material… We are collaborating with leading institutes such as University of California, USA and Bar-Ilan University, Israel, etc. for developing different applications of this material,” commented Dr T.N. Narayanan of TCIS.
First Graphite Ltd will begin collaboration with Flinders University to commercially develop and scale-up a graphene purification technology pioneered by professor Colin Raston. Earlier this month, First Graphite commissioned a graphene production cell in Australia, which uses graphite as raw material.
UK-based Metalysis Ltd., which is focused on commercialising its proprietary electrochemical metal powder manufacturing technology, has successfully produced Graphene. Single layer (“monolayer”) sheets of Graphene have been synthesised at Metalysis’ industrial processing facilities in the Dearne Valley, as well as bilayer nd low multi-layer amalgamations. Subject to further detailed due diligence and market outlook, Metalysis will pursue commercial opportunities within the Graphene space during the coming calendar year.
According to the company, Graphene production represents a valuable opportunity to pursue additive revenue to the core Titanium and Tantalum metal powder production business which primarily serves the 3D printing industry.
Researchers from Graphene Flagship partner Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), Italy and Italian luxury design company Momodesign have produced a motorcycle helmet that includes graphene technology. A graphene coating that allows better distribution of impact force makes the helmet less susceptible to damage compared to helmets without graphene, even in high temperature conditions. The result is a helmet that improves thermal comfort and safety.
According to Choong Sun Kim, the lead author of the research paper “With graphene aerogels, we have fabricated an array of loudspeakers that demonstrated stable performance. This is a practical technology that will enable mass-production of thermosacoustic speakers including on mobile platforms.”
Also in Italy, Directa Plus has announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Directa Plus S.p.A., has acquired a 60% interest in the issued share capital of Osmotek, a company involved in the commercialisation and distribution of textile membranes. The Directors of the company believe that the EUR 60,000 acquisition will enhance the route-to-market for its textile applications. The company has assumed responsibility for the operations of Osmotek, which has been renamed Directa Textile Solutions Srl (DTS).
Chinese tyre manufacturer Shangdong Hengyu Technology has announced they are making car tyres incorporating graphene, following in the footsteps of Italian bicycle tyremaker Vitorria and Sentury Tire, also based in China. Graphene producer The Sixth Element Materials Technology (www.c6th.com) is supplying the graphene. /he company add a very small amount of SE2430 graphene to tyre tread compound formulations. According to the company, the wear rate has decreased by more than 25 per cent and resistance to tearing has increased by more than 50 per cent. The tires are scheduled to be commercially available by end of 2016.
