graphene tagged posts

GraphExeter is a material adapted from the ‘wonder material’ graphene.

Exeter researchers have substantially improved the effectiveness of large, flat, flexible lighting via GraphExeter – a material adapted from the ‘wonder material’ graphene. By using GraphExeter, the most transparent, lightweight and flexible material for conducting electricity, instead of pure graphene, the team have increased the brightness of flexible lights by up to almost 50%. The research has also shown GraphExeter makes the lights 30% more efficient than existing examples of flexible lighting, based on state-of-the-art commercial polymers.

The research team believe the breakthrough could help significantly improve the viability of the next generation of flexible screens, which could be used for display screens...

Image of one of the graphene-based devices Xu and colleagues worked with. Credit: Lei Wang

In traditional light-harvesting methods, energy from 1 photon only excites 1 electron or none depending on the absorber’s energy gap. The remaining energy is lost as heat. But a new article describe an approach to coax photons into stimulating multiple electrons. Their method exploits some surprising quantum-level interactions to give one photon multiple potential electron partners.

Wu and Xu in UW’s Dept of Materials Science & Engineering and the Det of Physics, made this surprising discovery using graphene.
The researchers took a single atom layer of graphene and sandwiched it between 2 thin layers of boron-nitride. Electrons do not flow easily within boron-nitride so it is an insulator.

When the g...

Gurpreet Singh, Kansas State University associate professor of mechanical and nuclear engineering, and his research team have developed a paperlike battery electrode using silicon oxycarbide glass and graphene. Credit: Kansas State University

It may improve tools for space exploration or unmanned aerial vehicles. A/Prof Gurpreet Singh of mechanical and nuclear engineering, and his research team created the battery electrode using silicon oxycarbide-glass and graphene.

The battery electrode has all the right characteristics. It is >10% lighter than other battery electrodes. It has close to 100% cycling efficiency for >1000 charge discharge cycles. It is made of low-cost materials that are byproducts of the silicone industry...

By simply shining the right color of light on the graphene, contaminants and light-sensitive soap mixture, the graphene clusters together and sinks; shining a different color of light re-disperses it for re-use. Credit: Monash University

A simple effective way of capturing graphenes and the toxins, contaminants they attract from water by using light has been found. The findings could have significant implications for large-scale water purification. A small amount of a special light-sensitive soap was added to the water containing the graphenes and contaminants. The soap changes its molecular structure when light of a particular colour is shone onto it...