The Graphene-Info newsletter (June 20, 2023)

Graphite One, a mining company planning a complete domestic U.S. supply chain for advanced graphite materials, has announced that it has entered into a teaming agreement with Vorbeck Materials, a manufacturer involved in graphene production and advanced graphene applications.

Graphite One is planning to develop a complete U.S.-based, advanced graphite supply chain solution anchored by the Graphite Creek resource.

In February 2023, Universal Matter acquired Applied Graphene Materials' assets for $1.3 million. Now, AGM has announced that it will be changing its company name to Universal Matter GBR Ltd, effective immediately. 

This rebranding aims to reflect the Company's commitment to delivering cutting-edge materials and innovative solutions to customers worldwide. 

Lyten has announced the commissioning of its Lithium-Sulfur battery pilot line during a ribbon-cutting ceremony held at its facility in Silicon Valley. Lyten has confirmed that its proprietary 3D Graphene will be used within the battery, as part of its chemistry. 

The Lithium-Sulfur pilot line will reportedly begin delivering commercial battery cells in 2023 to early adopting customers within the defense, automotive, logistics, and satellite sectors. Battery delivery will be used to support testing, qualification and initial commercialization across the sectors. Reservations for the remaining battery cells will be limited by the pilot line’s nameplate capacity of 200,000 cells per year.

Researchers from Arizona State University (ASU) have presented a design concept for enhanced saturable absorption effect based on subwavelength-thick (<1/5λ0) hybrid graphene-plasmonic metasurface structures in infrared wavelengths. Yu Yao and her research team at the ASU Center for Photonics Innovation designed a faster and more energy-efficient nanoscale laser component called the graphene-plasmonic hybrid metastructure saturable absorber, known as GPSMA.

The team's theoretical and experimental results demonstrated that, by exciting nonequilibrium carriers inside nanoscale hotspots, one could not only enhance the saturable absorption in graphene, but also reduce the saturation fluence by over 3 orders of magnitude (from ∼1 mJ/cm2 to ∼100 nJ/cm2). Their pump–probe measurement results suggested an ultrashort saturable absorption recovery time (<60 fs), which is ultimately determined by the relaxation dynamics of photoexcited carriers in graphene. They also observed pulse narrowing effects in the devices based on the autocorrelation measurement results. Such design concepts can be tailored via structure engineering to operate in broader wavelength ranges up to mid- and far- infrared spectral regions. These ultrafast low-saturation fluence saturable absorber designs can enable low-threshold, compact, self-starting mode-locked lasers, laser pulse shaping, and high-speed optical information processing.

Researchers from Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2) and the University of Exeter have demonstrated that the properties and dynamics of electronic heat in graphene allow for a THz-to-visible conversion, which is switchable at a sub-nanosecond time scale. The results show that graphene-based materials can be used to efficiently convert high-frequency signals into visible light.

The team showed a tunable on/off ratio of more than 30 for the emitted visible light, achieved through electrical gating using a gate voltage on the order of 1 V. They also demonstrated that a grating-graphene metamaterial leads to an increase in THz-induced emitted power in the visible range by 2 orders of magnitude. These recent results could provide a route towards novel functionalities of optoelectronic technologies in the THz regime.

DARPA, Siemens, the U.S ARMY, Georgia Tech Research Institute and Paragraf - through recently acquired Cardea Bio, now Paragraf San Diego - have presented novel multiomics capabilities, by detection of both protein and RNA biosignals simultaneously on a single graphene-based biosensor.

It was stated that this achievement marks the first public demonstration of this novel methodology for multiomics and that the paper is the first in the world demonstrating the capability to detect both protein and RNA biosignals in a COVID-19 based experiment where both the COVID wild type as well as the Omicron variant were successfully detected.

The Graphene Flagship’s 2D Experimental Pilot Line (2D-EPL) is offering the opportunity to take part in a multi project wafer run integrating graphene into silicon wafers. This run is mainly intended for electronics but can also include sensor devices (e.g. Hall sensor, but via opening on graphene is not in the scope of this run) and will be provided by AMO GmbH. The design of the device can be adjusted within the specifications. Apply today to receive more information or to discuss your design ideas with our team.

• Why apply?
• Affordable prototypes
• Benchmarking
• Customisable chips
• Short turn around
• Flexible process flows
• Direct communication channels
• Experienced partners
• Feasibility consulting

Learn more and apply today!