This October 28, 2024 article by Kiran Jacob for The Edge Malaysia is designed to boost businesses but, happily, it also provides some insight into how graphene is being commercialized in Malaysia,
This article first appeared in Digital Edge, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on October 28, 2024 – November 3, 2024
Ominent Sdn Bhd, through its flagship brand IGL Coatings, offers a seemingly straightforward product: cleaning, maintenance and protection solutions for automotive, marine and industrial coatings. But to founder Keong Chun Chieh, it is more than just the provider of a line of functional surface treatments; it’s a tech company. The secret? Nanotechnology and graphene.
What may appear as mere coatings are, in fact, intricate formulations engineered at the molecular level, designed to enhance durability, hydrophobicity and protection, says Keong. This makes the coatings more robust against physical wear and tear, and reduces their permeability to water, oxygen and other gases by filling microscopic voids and creating more impermeable surfaces.
“[Through nanotechnology], a surface that mimics a lotus leaf [is created], which is highly hydrophobic, results in a coating that repels water and dirt, and maintains a clean surface with minimal maintenance,” he says.
All these protect the coating — and the surface it is applied onto — from chemicals, corrosion, ultraviolet radiation and environmental degradation.
While its products can be applied to automotive, industrial and maritime coatings, Keong considers automotive coatings as a low-hanging fruit. This is why 70% of the company’s revenue comes from this sector.
Meanwhile, the main focus of the industrial sector — a market that is rapidly growing for IGL Coatings — is anti-corrosion coatings to prevent rust. The corrosion damages infrastructure and equipment that can lead to sudden failures such as building collapses.
Existing anti-corrosion coatings hinder any early detection of the deterioration. “[The products] that are in the market, are not supposed to rust, but you can’t see whether the rust is happening at the bottom [of the coating],” he says.
“When you visually can see it, it means that it is severely rusted and has cracked the coating and painting on the top.”
A transparent corrosion system enables early detection and repair, which then extends the lifespan of the asset and reduces the need for replacement, says Keong. Moreover, the utilisation of nanotechnology involving titanium dioxide, carbon nanotubes and diamond particles aids in achieving a structured surface at the nanoscale.
“The uniform dispersion optimises the surface energy and texture, which significantly enhances water repellency. The created nanostructure helps in forming a consistent and effective barrier against moisture,” he explains.
The incorporation of functionalised graphene improves the overall properties of the coating, adds Keong. “Graphene is an additive that supercharges some of the behaviour that I need.”
A sophisticated dispersion method is employed to ensure that graphene nanoplatelets and functionalised graphene, such as hydroxyl and carboxyl, are evenly distributed within the coating matrix.
“The hydroxyl and carboxyl groups facilitate better integration within the coating matrix, enhancing the coating’s strength, flexibility and resistance to environmental factors,” he says.
The incorporation of carbon dots into IGL Coatings’ formulations is also in the works. Carbon dots, a type of carbon-nano material composed of discrete and quasi-spherical nanoparticles, have several advantages. These include low cytotoxicity, good biocompatibility, stable chemical inertness, efficient light harvesting and outstanding photo-induced electron transfer.
IGL Coatings, which has over 40 automotive coating products, has an existing network of 5,000 installers in the automotive sector that it leverages to market its industrial solutions, says Keong. Installers who are familiar with the brand are then able to recommend the industrial coatings to their existing customers.
Its customers in this area include those in the mining, theme park and fishing industries. The application for the coatings include for buildings, material handling equipment, roofs, pillars and undercarriages of vehicles.
Keong aims to optimise existing technologies and reduce their environmental impact. For instance, the company has a high solids, zero volatile organic compounds solution to prevent battery corrosion in electric vehicles. It also has a coating for solar panels to reduce cleaning frequency and increase energy collection.
IGL Coatings has expanded to over 50 countries with a broad range of products in the automotive, marine and industrial sectors.
The company generated a total revenue of RM66.5 million from its inception in 2015 up to 2023. Last year, it generated a revenue of RM10.5 million. IGL Coatings recorded a 160% growth in revenue over the past three years. The Financial Times, in a joint study with Statista, ranked it as one of 500 top growth companies in Asia-Pacific in 2023.
Keong stumbled upon the idea for his company while working as an engineer. He was frustrated by the daunting prospect of having to clean the expensive lenses in his clients’ spectrometers every six months.
Due to its proximity to materials being burned, the lens in the spectrometer would quickly get dirty with carbon deposits and turn yellow. Cleaning it cost a couple of thousand ringgit.
Using his experience of working in his clients’ labs, Keong formulated a solution that he could apply onto the lens to clean it.
“I worked out a basic formulation and applied it onto the lens. It worked well and actually increased the performance of the lens and I didn’t need to change it anymore. I told my employers that the product could be sold as a solution to clean the instruments,” he recalls.
It had taken Keong about a year to develop the solution. He did this based on his knowledge about chemicals and by referencing scientific journals and reviewing safety data sheets for ingredient ideas.
But, his employers didn’t take to the idea as they wanted to sell more of the lenses, not less.
“I was a bit disappointed. [So] I took that [formulation] and [applied it on] my car windshield. It gave the same result [making the windshield] easier to clean [as it was hydrophobic and had long durability].”
That was his Eureka moment. When Keong researched such products on the market, he realised that the products available could only last for two to three weeks. His solution, on the other hand, could last up to nine months.
“I did a tweak [on the product] and started selling it as a solution to local users in Malaysia, and delved more into the industry. [In my mind], the market for this was, as long as there is a surface, it would require protection.”
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At the heart of it all, Keong wants to provide products that are safe, as there is a lack of transparency and safety in detailing chemicals. He noticed that many workers were using the chemicals on a daily basis without wearing personal protective equipment and proper education on how to use them safely.
“The thing is, with chemicals, it’s not about feeling the pain [immediately]. It’s about what you are breathing in and what is getting absorbed into your skin. Five to 10 years later, you will feel it. As I studied more about it, [I found] there are a lot of chemicals that are carcinogenic,” he says.
IGL Coatings’ products do not contain heavy metals and are free from isocyanate, which is a common harmful chemical found in anti-corrosion products, explains Keong.
Additionally, he hopes that with access to public funds eventually, the company will be able to produce the materials for its products, instead of sourcing for them elsewhere.
Currently, the company sources nano-materials from larger companies and experiments to find the right combination. “IGL Coatings is like the chef. We cook the food and we [create] the dish. The materials and ingredients are purchased from the farmer who grows it … we find the best materials that are suitable and compatible. [From there] we form the formulation to produce the product we want. It’s all about trial and error.”
Some of the challenges faced during production are ensuring the nanoparticles remain stable within the coating formulation and are compatible with the other components. Furthermore, the properties of graphene, such as mechanical strength and conductivity, need to be retained after dispersion and incorporation into the coating.
High-quality graphene production is expensive, adds Keong. IGL Coatings identifies graphene derived from the by-products of other industries and repurposes waste materials into high-value nano-materials.
Its formulations are a trade secret and proprietary to avoid competitors from replicating them.
“When I did the formulation, I actually studied other patents [emphasis mine]. They list down the whole thing. [Based on the] patents [I learnt what to and what not to do]. If I were to list my formulations down for a patent, well-funded [companies] and [their] research and development chemists can read the article and come up with something immediately,” he says.
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So, he used other companies’ patents and doesn’t want that to happen to his company. That’s certainly one approach to dealing with intellectual property.
In the end, I’m happy to have seen Jacob’s October 28, 2024 article and to have learned more about graphene commercialization in Malaysia.
This research comes from the UK according to an October 26, 2024 news item on phys.org, Note: A link has been removed,
Researchers from Queen Mary University of London and Paragraf Limited have demonstrated a significant step forward in the development of graphene-based memristors and unlocking their potential for use in future computing systems and artificial intelligence (AI).
This innovation, published in ACS Advanced Electronic Materials [this should be ACS Applied Electronic Materials] and featured on the cover of this month’s issue, has been achieved at wafer scale. It begins to pave the way toward scalable production of graphene-based memristors, which are devices crucial for non-volatile memory and artificial neural networks (ANNs).
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An October 23, 2024 Queen Mary University of London press release, which originated the news item, explains why memristors are important and gives a little information about the researchers’ solution to a problem with incorporating them into electronics,
Memristors are recognised as potential game-changers in computing, offering the ability to perform analogue computations, store data without power, and mimic the synaptic functions of the human brain. The integration of graphene, a material just one atom thick with the highest electron mobility of any known substance, can enhance these devices dramatically, but has been notoriously difficult to incorporate into electronics in a scalable way until recently. “Graphene electrodes bring clear benefits to memristor technology,” says Dr Zhichao Weng, Research Scientist at School of Physical and Chemical Sciences at Queen Mary. “They offer not only improved endurance but also exciting new applications, such as light-sensitive synapses and optically tuneable memories.”
One of the key challenges in memristor development is device degradation, which graphene can help prevent. By blocking chemical pathways that degrade traditional electrodes, graphene could significantly extend the lifetime and reliability of these devices. Its remarkable transparency, transmitting 98% of light, also opens doors to advanced computing applications, particularly in AI and optoelectronics.
This research is a key step on the way to graphene electronics scalability. Historically, producing high-quality graphene compatible with semiconductor processes has been a significant hurdle. Paragraf’s proprietary Metal-Organic Chemical Vapour Deposition (MOCVD) process, however, has now made it possible to grow monolayer graphene directly on target substrates. This scalable approach is already being used in commercial devices like graphene-based Hall effect sensors and field-effect transistors (GFETs).
“The opportunity for graphene to help in creating next generation computing devices that can combine logic and storage in new ways gives opportunities in solving the energy costs of training large language models in AI,” says John Tingay, CTO at Paragraf. “This latest development with Queen Mary University of London to deliver a memristor proof of concept is an important step in extending graphene’s use in electronics from magnetic and molecular sensors to proving how it could be used in future logic and memory devices.”
The team used a multi-step photolithography process to pattern and integrate the graphene electrodes into memristors, producing reproducible results that point the way to large-scale production. “Our research not only establishes proof of concept but also confirms graphene’s suitability for enhancing memristor performance over other materials,” adds Professor Oliver Fenwick, Professor of Electronic Materials at Queen Mary’s School of Engineering and Materials Science.
This work, part of an Innovate UK Knowledge Transfer Partnership between Queen Mary and Paragraf, is a new milestone in expanding graphene’s role in the semiconductor industry.
Cover of ACS Applied Electronic Materials October issue
Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,
Memristors with Monolayer Graphene Electrodes Grown Directly on Sapphire Wafers by Zhichao Weng, Robert Wallis, Bryan Wingfield, Paul Evans, Piotr Baginski, Jaspreet Kainth, Andrey E. Nikolaenko, Lok Yi Lee, Joanna Baginska, William P. Gillin, Ivor Guiney, Colin J. Humphreys, Oliver Fenwick. ACS Appl. Electron. Mater. 2024, 6, 10, 7276–7285 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsaelm.4c01208 Published September 16, 2024
First, thank you to anyone who’s dropped by to read any of my posts. Second, I didn’t quite catch up on my backlog in what was then the new year (2024) despite my promises. (sigh) I will try to publish my drafts in a more timely fashion but I start this coming year as I did 2024 with a backlog of two to three months. This may be my new normal.
As for now, here’s an overview of FrogHeart’s 2024. The posts that follow are loosely organized under a heading but many of them could fit under other headings as well. After my informal review, there’s some material on foretelling the future as depicted in an exhibition, “Oracles, Omens and Answers,” at the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford.
Human enhancement: prosthetics, robotics, and more
Within a year or two of starting this blog I created a tag ‘machine/flesh’ to organize information about a number of converging technologies such as robotics, brain implants, and prosthetics that could alter our concepts of what it means to be human. The larger category of human enhancement functions in much the same way also allowing a greater range of topics to be covered.
Here are some of the 2024 human enhancement and/or machine/flesh stories on this blog,
As for anyone who’s curious about hydrogels, there’s this from an October 20, 2016 article by D.C.Demetre for ScienceBeta, Note: A link has been removed,
Hydrogels, materials that can absorb and retain large quantities of water, could revolutionise medicine. Our bodies contain up to 60% water, but hydrogels can hold up to 90%.
It is this similarity to human tissue that has led researchers to examine if these materials could be used to improve the treatment of a range of medical conditions including heart disease and cancer.
These days hydrogels can be found in many everyday products, from disposable nappies and soft contact lenses to plant-water crystals. But the history of hydrogels for medical applications started in the 1960s.
Scientists developed artificial materials with the ambitious goal of using them in permanent contact applications , ones that are implanted in the body permanently.
For anyone who wants a more technical explanation, there’s the Hydrogel entry on Wikipedia.
Science education and citizen science
Where science education is concerned I’m seeing some innovative approaches to teaching science, which can include citizen science. As for citizen science (also known as, participatory science) I’ve been noticing heightened interest at all age levels.
It’s been another year where artificial intelligence (AI) has absorbed a lot of energy from nearly everyone. I’m highlighting the more unusual AI stories I’ve stumbled across,
As you can see, I’ve tucked in two tangentially related stories, one which references a neuromorphic computing story ((see my Neuromorphic engineering category or search for ‘memristors’ in the blog search engine for more on brain-like computing topics) and the other is intellectual property. There are many, many more stories on these topics
Art/science (or art/sci or sciart)
It’s a bit of a surprise to see how many art/sci stories were published here this year, although some might be better described as art/tech stories.
There may be more 2024 art/sci stories but the list was getting long. In addition to searching for art/sci on the blog search engine, you may want to try data sonification too.
Moving off planet to outer space
This is not a big interest of mine but there were a few stories,
I expect to be delighted, horrified, thrilled, and left shaking my head by science stories in 2025. Year after year the world of science reveals a world of wonder.
More mundanely, I can state with some confidence that my commentary (mentioned in the future-oriented subsection of my 2023 review and 2024 look forward) on Quantum Potential, a 2023 report from the Council of Canadian Academies, will be published early in this new year as I’ve almost finished writing it.
Some questions are hard to answer and always have been. Does my beloved love me back? Should my country go to war? Who stole my goats?
Questions like these have been asked of diviners around the world throughout history – and still are today. From astrology and tarot to reading entrails, divination comes in a wide variety of forms.
Yet they all address the same human needs. They promise to tame uncertainty, help us make decisions or simply satisfy our desire to understand.
Anthropologists and historians like us study divination because it sheds light on the fears and anxieties of particular cultures, many of which are universal. Our new exhibition at Oxford’s Bodleian Library, Oracles, Omens & Answers, explores these issues by showcasing divination techniques from around the world.
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1. Spider divination
In Cameroon, Mambila spider divination (ŋgam dù) addresses difficult questions to spiders or land crabs that live in holes in the ground.
Asking the spiders a question involves covering their hole with a broken pot and placing a stick, a stone and cards made from leaves around it. The diviner then asks a question in a yes or no format while tapping the enclosure to encourage the spider or crab to emerge. The stick and stone represent yes or no, while the leaf cards, which are specially incised with certain meanings, offer further clarification.
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2. Palmistry
Reading people’s palms (palmistry) is well known as a fairground amusement, but serious forms of this divination technique exist in many cultures. The practice of reading the hands to gather insights into a person’s character and future was used in many ancient cultures across Asia and Europe.
In some traditions, the shape and depth of the lines on the palm are richest in meaning. In others, the size of the hands and fingers are also considered. In some Indian traditions, special marks and symbols appearing on the palm also provide insights.
Palmistry experienced a huge resurgence in 19th-century England and America, just as the science of fingerprints was being developed. If you could identify someone from their fingerprints, it seemed plausible to read their personality from their hands.
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3. Bibliomancy
If you want a quick answer to a difficult question, you could try bibliomancy. Historically, this DIY [do-it-yourself] divining technique was performed with whatever important books were on hand.
Throughout Europe, the works of Homer or Virgil were used. In Iran, it was often the Divan of Hafiz, a collection of Persian poetry. In Christian, Muslim and Jewish traditions, holy texts have often been used, though not without controversy.
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4. Astrology
Astrology exists in almost every culture around the world. As far back as ancient Babylon, astrologers have interpreted the heavens to discover hidden truths and predict the future.
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5. Calendrical divination
Calendars have long been used to divine the future and establish the best times to perform certain activities. In many countries, almanacs still advise auspicious and inauspicious days for tasks ranging from getting a haircut to starting a new business deal.
In Indonesia, Hindu almanacs called pawukon [calendar] explain how different weeks are ruled by different local deities. The characteristics of the deities mean that some weeks are better than others for activities like marriage ceremonies.
6 December 2024 – 27 April 2025 ST Lee Gallery, Weston Library
The Bodleian Libraries’ new exhibition, Oracles, Omens and Answers, will explore the many ways in which people have sought answers in the face of the unknown across time and cultures. From astrology and palm reading to weather and public health forecasting, the exhibition demonstrates the ubiquity of divination practices, and humanity’s universal desire to tame uncertainty, diagnose present problems, and predict future outcomes.
Through plagues, wars and political turmoil, divination, or the practice of seeking knowledge of the future or the unknown, has remained an integral part of society. Historically, royals and politicians would consult with diviners to guide decision-making and incite action. People have continued to seek comfort and guidance through divination in uncertain times — the COVID-19 pandemic saw a rise in apps enabling users to generate astrological charts or read the Yijing [I Ching], alongside a growth in horoscope and tarot communities on social media such as ‘WitchTok’. Many aspects of our lives are now dictated by algorithmic predictions, from e-health platforms to digital advertising. Scientific forecasters as well as doctors, detectives, and therapists have taken over many of the societal roles once held by diviners. Yet the predictions of today’s experts are not immune to criticism, nor can they answer all our questions.
Curated by Dr Michelle Aroney, whose research focuses on early modern science and religion, and Professor David Zeitlyn, an expert in the anthropology of divination, the exhibition will take a historical-anthropological approach to methods of prophecy, prediction and forecasting, covering a broad range of divination methods, including astrology, tarot, necromancy, and spider divination.
Dating back as far as ancient Mesopotamia, the exhibition will show us that the same kinds of questions have been asked of specialist practitioners from around the world throughout history. What is the best treatment for this illness? Does my loved one love me back? When will this pandemic end? Through materials from the archives of the Bodleian Libraries alongside other collections in Oxford, the exhibition demonstrates just how universally human it is to seek answers to difficult questions.
Highlights of the exhibition include: oracle bones from Shang Dynasty China (ca. 1250-1050 BCE); an Egyptian celestial globe dating to around 1318; a 16th-century armillary sphere from Flanders, once used by astrologers to place the planets in the sky in relation to the Zodiac; a nineteenth-century illuminated Javanese almanac; and the autobiography of astrologer Joan Quigley, who worked with Nancy and Ronald Reagan in the White House for seven years. The casebooks of astrologer-physicians in 16th- and 17th-century England also offer rare insights into the questions asked by clients across the social spectrum, about their health, personal lives, and business ventures, and in some cases the actions taken by them in response.
The exhibition also explores divination which involves the interpretation of patterns or clues in natural things, with the idea that natural bodies contain hidden clues that can be decrypted. Some diviners inspect the entrails of sacrificed animals (known as ‘extispicy’), as evidenced by an ancient Mesopotamian cuneiform tablet describing the observation of patterns in the guts of birds. Others use human bodies, with palm readers interpreting characters and fortunes etched in their clients’ hands. A sketch of Oscar Wilde’s palms – which his palm reader believed indicated “a great love of detail…extraordinary brain power and profound scholarship” – shows the revival of palmistry’s popularity in 19th century Britain.
The exhibition will also feature a case study of spider divination practised by the Mambila people of Cameroon and Nigeria, which is the research specialism of curator Professor David Zeitlyn, himself a Ŋgam dù diviner. This process uses burrowing spiders or land crabs to arrange marked leaf cards into a pattern, which is read by the diviner. The display will demonstrate the methods involved in this process and the way in which its results are interpreted by the card readers. African basket divination has also been observed through anthropological research, where diviners receive answers to their questions in the form of the configurations of thirty plus items after they have been tossed in the basket.
Dr Michelle Aroney and Professor David Zeitlyn, co-curators of the exhibition, say:
Every day we confront the limits of our own knowledge when it comes to the enigmas of the past and present and the uncertainties of the future. Across history and around the world, humans have used various techniques that promise to unveil the concealed, disclosing insights that offer answers to private or shared dilemmas and help to make decisions. Whether a diviner uses spiders or tarot cards, what matters is whether the answers they offer are meaningful and helpful to their clients. What is fun or entertainment for one person is deadly serious for another.
Richard Ovenden, Bodley’s [a nickname? Bodleian Libraries were founded by Sir Thomas Bodley] Librarian, said:
People have tried to find ways of predicting the future for as long as we have had recorded history. This exhibition examines and illustrates how across time and culture, people manage the uncertainty of everyday life in their own way. We hope that through the extraordinary exhibits, and the scholarship that brings them together, visitors to the show will appreciate the long history of people seeking answers to life’s biggest questions, and how people have approached it in their own unique way.
The exhibition will be accompanied by the book Divinations, Oracles & Omens, edited by Michelle Aroney and David Zeitlyn, which will be published by Bodleian Library Publishing on 5 December 2024.
Courtesy: Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
I’m not sure why the preceding image is used to illustrate the exhibition webpage but I find it quite interesting. Should you be in Oxford, UK and lucky enough to visit the exhibition, there are a few more details on the Oracles, Omens and Answers event webpage, Note: There are 26 Bodleian Libraries at Oxford and the exhibition is being held in the Weston Library,
EXHIBITION
Oracles, Omens and Answers
6 December 2024 – 27 April 2025
ST Lee Gallery, Weston Library
Free admission, no ticket required
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Note: This exhibition includes a large continuous projection of spider divination practice, including images of the spiders in action.
Exhibition tours
Oracles, Omens and Answers exhibition tours are available on selected Wednesdays and Saturdays from 1–1.45pm and are open to all.
Caption: From cars on a highway to a viscous fluid like oil, our understanding of electron behaviour is being changed by new research. Credit: College of Design and Engineering, National University of Singapore
An October 21, 2024 news item on phys.org announces the new research illustrated in the above, Note: Links have been removed,
In high school science class, we learned that plugging a cable into an electrical circuit sets off a flow of electrons, powering everything from our lights to our phones. Traditionally, we’ve understood how electrons behave in metals and semiconductors through this simple model: electrons are imagined as tiny, independent particles, much like cars on an open highway—each one moving freely, without interacting much with the others.
It’s a straightforward perspective that has been the foundation of electronics for many years, helping us understand and design the electronic devices that underpin much of modern life.
However, this traditional view falls short in the case of some emerging quantum materials such as the ultrathin, and highly conductive material graphene. In these materials, rather than behaving like individual cars on a highway, electrons instead act together in a way that resembles a viscous fluid such as oil. This finding could be transformative for the future development of a broad range of technologies.
Assistant Professor Denis Bandurin and his team, who are from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the College of Design and Engineering at the National University of Singapore, are exploring how quantum materials interact with electromagnetic radiation at the nanoscale to uncover new scientific phenomena and their potential use in developing future technologies.
In a recent study, published in Nature Nanotechnology, the team reported that when graphene is exposed to electromagnetic radiation of terahertz frequencies, electron fluid heats up and its viscosity is drastically reduced, resulting in lower electrical resistance – much like how oil, honey and other viscous fluids flow more easily as they are heated on a stove.
Advancing the frontiers of THz waves detection
Terahertz (THz) waves are a special and technologically challenging part of the electromagnetic spectrum – situated between microwaves and infrared light – that have a vast range of potential applications. Being able to detect THz waves could unlock major advances in technologies.
In communications for example, current Wi-Fi technology operates at several GHz, limiting how much data can be transmitted. THz radiation, with its much higher frequency, could serve as the “carrier frequency” for ultrafast, beyond 5G networks, enabling faster data transfer for Internet of Things (IoT) connected devices, self-driving cars and countless other applications.
In medical imaging and industrial quality control, THz waves can penetrate many materials, making them useful for non-invasive scans. They are also safer than X-rays, providing a highly selective and precise imaging tool.
Going further afield, THz vision enables observational astronomy, allowing scientists to observe distant galaxies and exoplanets that cannot be seen by visible light.
THz radiation therefore offers huge potential. However, until recently, detecting it has been a significant challenge. THz waves are too fast for traditional semiconductor chips to handle and too slow for conventional optoelectronic devices.
The Viscous Electron Bolometer
The study by the NUS team showed that by harnessing the viscosity reduction effect, scientists can create innovative devices that can detect THz waves by sensing the changes in electrical resistance. Indeed, in the current study, Asst Prof Bandurin and his team has developed a new class of electronic device called a viscous electron bolometer.
Representing the first practical, real-world application of viscous electronics – a concept that was once thought to be purely theoretical – these bolometers are able to sense changes in resistance extremely accurately and quickly, operating, in principle, at the pico-second scale. In other words, trillionths of a second.
Understanding and exploiting the way electrons move together as a collective fluid opens the way for us to completely rethink the design of electronic devices. With this in mind, Asst Prof Bandurin and his team are actively working on optimising these viscous electron bolometers for practical applications.
As scientists uncover more secrets in the emerging world of quantum materials, it’s clear that traditional models of electron behaviour are no longer sufficient. By embracing this new understanding of viscous electronics, we could be on the verge of unlocking a new wave of technological possibilities.
Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,
Viscous terahertz photoconductivity of hydrodynamic electrons in graphene by M. Kravtsov, A. L. Shilov, Y. Yang, T. Pryadilin, M. A. Kashchenko, O. Popova, M. Titova, D. Voropaev, Y. Wang, K. Shein, I. Gayduchenko, G. N. Goltsman, M. Lukianov, A. Kudriashov, T. Taniguchi, K. Watanabe, D. A. Svintsov, S. Adam, K. S. Novoselov, A. Principi & D. A. Bandurin. Nature Nanotechnology (2024) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-024-01795-y Published: 07 October 2024
This paper is behind a paywall.
For anyone who noted the name ‘K.S. Novoselov’, it’s Konstantin Novoselov who along with Andre Geim received the 2011 Nobel prize in physics for their work with graphene.
The United Kingdom’s government announced changes to its winter fuel policy in July 2024. These changes included the decision to cut the winter fuel allowance for what amounted to millions of pensioners. (You can find out more in an October 11, 2024 Reuters Fact Check.)
Unfortunately, this October 9, 2024 news item on Azonano doesn’t point to immediate relief for those affected by the changes but it seems to give hope, Note: A link has been removed,
In light of the recent ]UK] Government announcement regarding the planned changes to the winter fuel policy, which will see a reduction in support for pensioners, Haydale is working with strategic partner Staircraft, which is owned by Travis Perkins plc, to develop a solution to help mitigate rising energy costs.
Our newly developed graphene-based underfloor heating system, has just completed initial successful trials, offering a revolutionary way for households to significantly reduce their heating bills.
With energy prices on the rise and Government support being scaled back, our innovative heating technology promises to ease the burden on household finances.
Graphene’s exceptional heat conductivity allows for a faster, more efficient distribution of warmth, using considerably less energy than traditional heating systems., Independent trials have demonstrated that our low voltage underfloor heating system can reduce energy consumption, leading to major cost savings— of up to 70% vs traditional underfloor heat systems using main power and copper wires – exactly what’s needed as heating bills increase.
“Our mission has always been to provide practical, affordable solutions to everyday problems, and the timing of this innovation couldn’t be more important,” said Keith Broadbent, CEO of Haydale. “At a time when many pensioners and vulnerable households are facing higher costs with less support, we believe our graphene heating technology can provide real relief.”
Dr Luke Whale, Technical Director at Staircraft Group said “Our initial trials on graphene underfloor heating panels bonded to our pre-cut chipboard flooring panels are demonstrating extremely efficient room heating can be achieved at much lower running costs than traditional underfloor heating methods. We will now be discussing its potential with house builders, in the hope that site trials can be undertaken as a next step.”
This cutting-edge system not only lowers heating expenses but also promotes sustainability by reducing energy consumption, making it an eco-friendly option for households concerned about their carbon footprint.
Haydale is committed to bringing this affordable and efficient technology to the market, helping consumers – especially pensioners – stay warm without breaking the bank.
No mention of when this product might come to market or what it will cost pensioners.
Rather than killing the bacteria with a disinfectant or other bactericide, this technique from Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden) is mechanical (I think that’s the right term).
Caption: Illustration of how the razor-sharp flakes of graphene line up together on a surface and can kill bacteria without harming healthy human cells. The bactericidal graphene surfaces developed at Chalmers University of Technology may soon be applied in medical devices thanks to a brand-new method using fridge magnet technology to control the bactericidal effects of graphene. Credit: Chalmers University of Technology |Yen Sandqvist
A September 24, 2024 news item on ScienceDaily announced a technique that would allow graphene to be utilized on medical devices,
With strong bactericidal properties, graphene has the potential to become a game changer in the fight against antibiotic-resistant bacteria. So far there have been no efficient ways to control these properties — and thus no way to make use of graphene’s potential in healthcare. Now researchers have solved the problem by using the same technology found in an ordinary fridge magnet. The result of which, is an ultra-thin acupuncture-like surface that can act as a coating on catheters and implants — killing 99.9 percent of all bacteria on a surface.
Healthcare-associated infections are a widespread problem around the world, causing great suffering, high healthcare costs and a heightened risk of increased antibiotic resistance. Most infections occur in connection with the use of various medical technology products such as catheters, hip prostheses, knee prostheses and dental implants, where bacteria are able to enter the body via a foreign surface. At Chalmers University of Technology, researchers have been exploring how graphene, an atomically thin two-dimensional graphite material, can contribute to the fight against antibiotic resistance and infections in healthcare. The research team has previously been able to show how vertically standing graphene flakes prevent bacteria from attaching to the substrate. Instead, the bacteria are cut to pieces on the razor-sharp flakes and die.
“We are developing a graphene-based, ultra-thin, antibacterial material that can be applied to any surface, including biomedical devices, surgical surfaces and implants to exclude bacteria. “Since graphene prevents bacteria from physically attaching to a surface, it has the added advantage that you do not risk increasing antibiotic resistance, unlike with other chemical alternatives, such as antibiotics,” says Ivan Mijakovic, Professor of Systems Biology at Chalmers University of Technology and one of the authors of the recently published study.
Kills 99.99% of bacteria on a surface
However, the researchers have been facing a challenge. Although its bactericidal properties can be demonstrated in the laboratory, the researchers have not yet managed to control the orientation direction of the graphene flakes– and subsequently not been able to apply the material on surfaces used on medical devices used in healthcare. So far, the bactericidal properties of graphene have only been able to be controlled in one specific direction: the flow direction of the manufacturing process. But now the Chalmers researchers have had a promising breakthrough for a practical application in healthcare – and beyond.
“We have managed to find a way to control the effects of graphene practically in several different directions and with a very high level of uniformity of the orientation. This new orientation method makes it possible to integrate graphene nanoplates into medical plastic surfaces and get an antibacterial surface that kills 99.9% of the bacteria that try to attach. This paves the way for significantly greater flexibility when you want to manufacture bacteria-killing medical devices using graphene”, says Roland Kádár, Professor of Rheology at Chalmers University of technology.
Unpreceded [unpreedented?] efficiency by controlling magnetic fields
By arranging earth magnets in a circular pattern making the magnetic field inside the array arrange in a straight direction, the researchers were able to induce a uniform orientation of the graphene and reach a very high bactericidal effect on surfaces of any shape.
The method, published in Advanced Functional Materials, is called “Halbach array” and means that the magnetic field inside the magnet array is strengthened and uniform while it is weakened on the other side, enabling a strong unidirectional orientation of graphene. The technology is similar to what you would find in a refrigerator magnet.
“This is the first time the Halbach array method has been used to orient graphene in a polymer nanocomposite. Now that we have seen the results, of course we want these graphene plates to get introduced in the healthcare sector so that we can reduce the number of healthcare-related infections, reduce suffering for patients and counteract antibiotic resistance”, says Viney Ghai, researcher in Rheology and Processing of Soft Matter at Chalmers University of Technology.
The new orientation technology shows significant potential in other areas, for example in batteries, supercapacitors, sensors and durable water-resistant packaging materials.
“Given its broad impact across these areas, this method truly opens up new horizons in material alignment, providing a powerful tool for the successful design and customisation of nanostructures that biomimic the intricate architectures found in natural systems,” says Roland Kádár.
Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,
Achieving Long-Range Arbitrary Uniform Alignment of Nanostructures in Magnetic Fields by Viney Ghai, Santosh Pandit, Magnus Svensso, Ragnar Larsson, Aleksandar Matic, Roselle Ngaloy, Saroj P. Dash, Ann Terry, Kim Nygård, Ivan Mijakovic, Roland Kádár. Advanced Functional Materials Volume 34, Issue 42 October 15, 2024 2406875 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202406875 First published online: 27 June 2024
It’s been a while since BC-based Lomiko Metals has rated more than a passing mention here. Back in June 2024 the company experienced a rough patch regarding their plans to mine for graphite in one of their Québec mines, from a June 9, 2024 article by Joe Bongiorno for Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) news online,
In Quebec’s Laurentians region, a few kilometres from a wildlife reserve and just outside the town of Duhamel, lies a source of one of the world’s most sought after minerals for manufacturing electric vehicle batteries: graphite.
Since Lomiko Metals Inc., a mining company based in Surrey, B.C., announced plans to build a graphite mine in the area, some residents living nearby have protested the project, fearing the potential harm to the environment.
But opposition has only gained steam after locals found out last month that the [US] Pentagon is involved in the project.
In May, Lomiko announced it received a grant of $11.4 million from the U.S. Department of Defence and another $4.9 million from Natural Resources Canada to study the conversion of graphite into battery-grade material for powering electric vehicles.
In its own announcement, the Pentagon said Lomiko’s graphite will bolster North American energy supply chains and be used for “defence applications,” words that make Duhamel resident Louis Saint-Hilaire uneasy.
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Depending on how you view things, this is either good news for bad news in a September 17, 2024 news item on CBC news online, Note: Links have been removed,
Two Quebec cabinet ministers say the province will not fund a proposed graphite mine north of Gatineau because it doesn’t meet the government’s standards for local support.
B.C.-based Lomiko Metals has been testing samples from its La Loutre site near the town of Duhamel, which the company says on its project website has shown “excellent graphite properties” for making batteries.
Many nearby residents have been against the proposal for years due to a perceived threat to outdoor recreation and associated businesses. No environmental assessment of the site has been conducted.
La Loutre has drawn funding from the Canadian and American governments for its potential role in the switch from gas to electric vehicles and related drop in fossil fuel emissions, but Minister Responsible for the Outaouais Region Mathieu Lacombe said Monday [Sept4ember 16, 2024] the project lacks provincial support.
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Lacombe pointed to Premier François Legault indicating in 2022 that no mining project will be carried out without what’s referred to in the province as “social acceptability” — essentially, buy-in from affected communities.
Natural Resources Minister Blanchette Vézina said the company’s request for funding from Investissement Québec wouldn’t be successful because it lacks public support.
Lomiko Metals has not responded to requests from Radio-Canada for an interview. It’s not clear what the company will do next, or what will happen with a referendum on the project scheduled for November 2025.
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Embedded in the September 17, 2024 news item is a radio segment where an expert further dissects the implications of the news.
For anyone interested in graphite, I have a January 3, 2023 posting, “Making graphite from coal and a few graphite facts.” There have been some changes with the ‘graphite facts’ since the posting was published but most of the other information should still be valid.
Graphite is a non-metallic mineral that has properties similar to metals, such as a good ability to conduct heat and electricity. Graphite occurs naturally or can be produced synthetically. Purified natural graphite has higher crystalline structure and offers better electrical and thermal conductivity than synthetic material.
Key facts
In 2022, global graphite mine production was about 1.3 million tonnes, a 15% increase from 2021.
Canadian natural graphite production comes from the Lac des Iles mine in Quebec.
Canada ranks as the sixth global producer of graphite with 13,000 tonnes of production in 2022.
Canada exported $22 million worth of natural graphite and $14 million worth of synthetic graphite globally in 2022, mostly to the United States.
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Production
The Lac des Iles mine in Quebec is the only mine in Canada that produced graphite in 2022 [emphasis mine]. However, many other companies are working on advancing graphite projects. Canada produced 13,000 tonnes of natural graphite in 2022, which was an increase from 2021 of 9,743 tonnes.
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International context
Global production and demand for graphite are anticipated to increase in the coming years, largely because of the use of graphite in the batteries of electric vehicles. In 2022, global consumption of graphite reached 3.8 million tonnes, compared to 3.6 million tonnes in 2021. Synthetic graphite accounted for about 56% of the graphite consumption, which was concentrated largely in Asia. North America consumes only 1% of global natural graphite, but almost 9% of synthetic graphite.
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Global mine production of graphite was 1.3 million tonnes in 2022, up 15% compared to the previous year. China is the leading global producer, accounting for 66% of production in 2022. Canada ranks sixth globally for natural graphite production, producing about 1% of global natural graphite.
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It seems Lomiko Metals’ La Loutre mine will not be adding to the country’s graphite production. I wonder what the company will do now as that La Loutre mine appears to be its chief asset, from a November 23, 2023 news release, Note: A link has been removed,
Montreal, Quebec – November 23, 2023 – Lomiko Metals Inc. (TSX.V: LMR) (“Lomiko Metals” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce the launch of a private placement (the “Private Placement“) to support the Company’s progress with its graphite and lithium projects in Quebec, Canada. The Private Placement will consist of hard dollar units for gross proceeds of up to $500,000.
Belinda Labatte, CEO and Director of Lomiko Metals: “Lomiko has accomplished many milestones in the last 18 months, including an updated Mineral Resource Estimate for La Loutre, environmental baseline studies and advancing the metallurgical studies. With this financing and committed investors, we will advance pre-feasibility level initiatives, and continue to advance the important discussions with communities, partners and First Nation Kitigan Zibi.”
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Retirement of Director
A special thank you and note of appreciation for Paul Gill, Executive Chair, who will not stand for re-election as he pursues other opportunities. We appreciate his service to the company and long-standing leadership at Lomiko. We wish him well in his future endeavours. Paul Gill will continue to serve as Executive Chair until the Company’s Annual and Special Meeting on December 20, 2023.
About Lomiko Metals Inc.
The Company holds mineral interests in its La Loutre graphite development in southern Quebec. The La Loutre project site is within the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg (KZA) First Nation’s territory. The KZA First Nation is part of the Algonquin Nation, and the KZA traditional territory is situated within the Outaouais and Laurentides regions. Located 180 kilometers northwest of Montreal, the property consists of one large, continuous block with 76 mineral claims totaling 4,528 hectares (45.3 km2).
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In addition to La Loutre, Lomiko is working with Critical Elements Lithium Corporation towards earning its 49% stake in the Bourier Project as per the option agreement announced on April 27th, 2021. The Bourier project site is located near Nemaska Lithium and Critical Elements south-east of the Eeyou Istchee James Bay territory in Quebec which consists of 203 claims, for a total ground position of 10,252.20 hectares (102.52 km2), in Canada’s lithium triangle near the James Bay region of Quebec that has historically housed lithium deposits and mineralization trends.
It seems that while the company has regrouped it has entirely given up on La Loutre, from an October 30, 2024 news release,
October 30th, 2024 – Montreal, Québec: Lomiko Metals Inc. (TSX.V: LMR) (“Lomiko Metals” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that the 2024 Beep-Map prospecting and sampling program is well underway on the Grenville Graphite Mineral Belt regional graphite exploration project. The “Grenville” project includes 268 mineral claims covering 15,639 hectares on six blocks in the Laurentian region of Quebec, approximately 200 kilometers northwest of Montréal within a 100 km radius of the Company’s flagship La Loutre graphite project [emphasis mine]. The 2024 work is focused on following up on the very successful graphite results reported in the Company’s press release dated July 11, 2023. To date, a total of 265 samples have been collected and submitted for analysis from the Dieppe, Meloche, Ruisseau and Tremblant properties, the focus of this campaign. No work is being conducted on the Carmin or North Low properties at this time. The results of the exploration campaign will be reported as they become available. The regional exploration program focuses on improving knowledge of graphite showings at the most prospective targets outlined in the 2022 and 2023 exploration programs.
Corporate and market update
Lomiko is part of the global transition to electrification and localization of transportation supply chains, a change that impacts all forms of transportation, cars, heavy equipment, marine etc. It also impacts communities and our talent pool to build these businesses of the future. Natural flake graphite, and specifically fine flake graphite, is crucial for the development of the North American anode industry in the new energy framework driven by tariffs on critical minerals, long-term supply chain resilience, and responsible domestic industrial growth. The La Loutre graphite is 67% fine flake distribution, making it an important source of long-term future graphite supply [emphasis mine] with demonstrated success for anode battery technology – among other uses currently being evaluated by Lomiko. According to Fortune Business Insights report dated October 14, 2024, the North American EV market is expected to grow almost quadruple to $230 billion in 2030 from $63 billion in 2022, with growth from other transportation sectors still nascent. Lomiko continues to engage with partners, customers and suppliers in building the future of this industry and developing R&D for the responsible extraction of this material.
Lomiko is initiating the reimbursement process for its recently awarded grant from the United States government and contribution agreement from the Canadian government, for work completed to date and within the scope of the agreements. It is the recipient of a Department of Defense (“DoD”) Technology Investment Agreement (“TIA”) grant of US$8.35 million (approximately CA$11.4 million) where Lomiko will match the funding over a period of 5 years, for a total agreement with the DoD of US$16.7 million. The grant falls under Title III of the Defense Production Act and is funded through the Inflation Reduction Act to ensure energy security in North America. The Company has also been approved for funding of CA$4.9 million in a non-repayable contribution agreement from the Critical Mineral Research, Development and Demonstration (CMRDD) program administered by Natural Resources Canada, with the total project cost being CA$6.6 million. The announcement was made on May 16, 2024 and can be viewed on our website at www.lomiko.com.
In addition, Lomiko announces the resignation of CFO and Corporate Secretary, Vince Osbourne, who will be pursuing a role with a private company and maintain a strategic advisory role with Lomiko going forward. Jacqueline Michael, Controller, will replace Vince Osbourne as CFO on an interim basis, with the role of Corporate Secretary to be assumed by current professionals working with Lomiko.
On behalf of the board of directors and management, Belinda Labatte, CEO and Interim Chair of the board of directors stated: “Vince has been an integral member of the Lomiko team, and we wish him success in his future endeavors, and we are pleased to continue our working relationship in his new capacity to Lomiko as advisor to the Company.”
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Now with a new administration entering the US White House has a chief advisor and co-leader of a new government agency [Department of Government Efficiency] in Elon Musk who is extremely wealthy and has many businesses, notably Tesla, an electronic vehicle (EV) business. It would seem that M. Musk might have an interest in easy access to minerals important to Tesla’s business.
In the last week or so I’d been wondering what happened to the space elevators (it’s exactly what it sounds like, an elevator that takes you into space) and then this September 23, 2024 essay by Stephen Lyn (Strathclyde Chancellor’s Fellow, Chemical and Process Engineering, University of Strathclyde) on The Conversation popped up, Note: Links have been removed,
Graphene at 20: still no sign of the promised space elevator, but here’s how this wonder material is quietly changing the world
Twenty years ago [2004] this October , two physicists at the University of Manchester, Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, published a groundbreaking paper on the “electric field effect in atomically thin carbon films”. Their work described the extraordinary electronic properties of graphene, a crystalline form of carbon equivalent to a single layer of graphite, just one atom thick.
Around that time, I started my doctorate at the University of Surrey. Our team specialised in the electronic properties of carbon. Carbon nanotubes were the latest craze, which I was happily following. One day, my professor encouraged a group of us to travel to London to attend a talk by a well-known science communicator from the University of Manchester. This was Andre Geim.
We were not disappointed. He was inspiring for us fresh-faced PhD students, incorporating talk of wacky Friday afternoon experiments with levitating frogs, before getting on to atomically thin carbon. All the same, we were sceptical about this carbon concept. We couldn’t quite believe that a material effectively obtained from pencil lead with sticky tape was really what it claimed to be. But we were wrong.
The work was quickly copied and reproduced by scientists across the globe. New methods for making this material were devised. Incredible claims about its properties made it sound like something out of a Stan Lee comic. Stronger than steel, highly flexible, super-slippery and impermeable to gases. A better electronic conductor than copper and a better thermal conductor than diamond, as well as practically invisible and displaying a host of exotic quantum properties.
Graphene was hailed as a revolutionary material, promising ultra-fast electronics, supercomputers and super-strong materials. More fantastical claims have included space elevators, solar sails, artificial retinas, even invisibility cloaks. [emphasis mine]
In terms of public perception, it’s fair to say that graphene has been held to an impossible standard. The popular media can certainly exaggerate science stories for clicks, but academics – including myself – are not immune from over-egging or speculating about their pet projects either. I’d argue this can even be useful, helping to drive new technologies forward. Equally, though, there can be a backlash when progress looks disappointing.
Having said that, disruptive technologies such as cars, television or plastic all required decades of development. Graphene is still a newcomer in the grand scheme of things, so it’s far too early to reach any conclusions about its impact.
Lyn goes on to point out where graphene has made inroads, from the September 23, 2024 essay, Note: Links have been removed
What has quietly occurred is a steady integration of graphene into numerous practical applications. Much of this is thanks to the Graphene Flagship, a major European research initiative coordinated by Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden. This aims to bring graphene and related materials from academic research to real-world commercial applications, and more than 90 products have been developed over the past decade as a result.
These include blended plastics for high-performance sports equipment, more durable racing tyres for bicycles, motorcycle helmets that better distribute impact forces, thermally conductive coatings for motorcycle components, and lubricants for reducing friction and wear between mechanical parts.
Graphene is finding its way into batteries and supercapacitors, enabling faster charging times and longer life spans. Conductive graphene inks are now used to manufacture sensors, wireless tracking tags, heating elements, and electromagnetic shielding for protecting sensitive electronics. Graphene is even used in headphones to improve the sound quality, and as a more efficient means of transmitting heat in air-conditioning units.
Graphene oxide products are being used for desalination, wastewater treatment and purification of drinking water. Meanwhile, a range of graphene materials can be bought off the shelf for use in countless other products, and major corporations including SpaceX, Tesla, Panasonic, Samsung, Sony and Apple are all rumoured or known to be using them to develop new products.
I am thankful for Lyn’s September 23, 2024 essay, which answers my question about space elevators and offers a good update on graphene’s integration and impact on society. If you have an interest in hearing the Sir Andre Geim talk “Random Walk to Graphene,” Lyn has embedded the almost 38 minutes talk in his essay. Finally, h/t to phys.org’s Sept. 23, 2024 news item.
It seems like there’s graphene on the moon according to an August 1, 2024 news item on phys.org , Note: A link has been removed,
A study, published in National Science Review, reveals the existence of naturally formed few-layer graphene, a substance consisting of carbon atoms in a special, thin-layered structure.
The team, led by professors Meng Zou, Wei Zhang and senior engineer Xiujuan Li from Jilin University and Wencai Ren from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Metal Research, analyzed an olive-shaped sample of lunar soil, about 2.9 millimeters by 1.6 mm, retrieved from the Chang’e 5 mission in 2020.
According to the team, scientists generally believe that some 1.9 percent of interstellar carbon exists in the form of graphene, with its shape and structure determined by the process of its formation.
Using a special spectrometer, researchers found an iron compound that is closely related to the formation of graphene in a carbon-rich section of the sample. They then used advanced microscopic and mapping technologies to confirm that the carbon content in the sample comprised “flakes” that have two to seven layers of graphene.
The team proposed that the few-layer graphene may have formed in volcanic activity in the early stages of the moon’s existence, and been catalyzed by solar winds that can stir up lunar soil and iron-containing minerals that helped transform the carbon atoms’ structure. They added that impact processes from meteorites, which create high-temperature and high-pressure environments, may also have led to the formation of graphene.
On Earth, graphene is becoming a star in materials sciences due to its special features in optics, electrics and mechanics. The team believes their study could help develop ways to produce the material inexpensively and expand its use.
“The mineral-catalyzed formation of natural graphene sheds light on the development of low-cost scalable synthesis techniques of high-quality graphene,” the paper said. “Therefore, a new lunar exploration program may be promoted, and some forthcoming breakthroughs can be expected.”
Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,
Discovery of natural few-layer graphene on the Moon by Wei Zhang, Qing Liang, Xiujuan Li, Lai-Peng Ma, Xinyang Li, Zhenzhen Zhao, Rui Zhang, Hongtao Cao, Zizhun Wang, Wenwen Li, Yanni Wang, Meiqi Liu, Nailin Yue, Hongyan Li, Zhenyu Hu, Li Liu, Qiang Zhou, Fangfei Li, Weitao Zheng, Wencai Ren, Meng Zou. National Science Review, nwae211, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwae211 Published:: 17 June 2024
This paper is open access and the National Science Review looks like another China-backed journal published by Oxford Academic. If not China-backed, it’s certainly China forward, from the About page,
National Science Review is an open access, peer-reviewed journal aimed at reporting cutting-edge developments across science and technology in China and around the world. The journal covers all areas of the natural sciences, including physics and mathematics, chemistry, life sciences, earth sciences, materials science, and information sciences.
I just realized that I haven’t seen anything recently about which country or countries are the leading the science race. Going by the recent rate of publication, China is doing quite well.
A July 10,2024 news item on ScienceDaily announces work on a new material for use in neuroprostheses could help people who are paralyzed or have amputated limbs, Note: This research involves use of animal models,
Neuroprostheses allow the nervous system of a patient who has suffered an injury to connect with mechanical devices that replace paralyzed or amputated limbs. A study coordinated by the UAB Institut de Neurociències, in collaboration with the l’Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia (ICN2), demonstrates in animal models how EGNITE, a derivative of graphene, allows the creation of smaller electrodes, which can interact more selectively with the nerves they stimulate, thus improving the efficacy of the prostheses. The study also demonstrated that EGNITE is biocompatible, showing that its implantation is safe.
After an amputation or a severe nerve injury, patients lose to a greater or lesser extent the ability to move and feel a lost limb, which limits their autonomy in activities of daily living. Currently, the only strategy that allows to recover the lost functions consists of neuroprostheses: electrodes capable of stimulating the nerves, to induce specific sensations, and of recording motor signals that, once decoded, can be sent to a bionic prosthesis.
In the design of neuroprostheses, it is important that the electrodes are small enough that they are selective and interact electrically only with a reduced number of axons in the nerve. Therefore, although they have commonly been constructed from metals such as gold, platinum or iridium oxide, it is necessary to find other materials that have enhanced conductive capacity and allow the creation of even smaller electrode contacts. This is where graphene and its derivatives come into play; their excellent electrical properties have allowed the development of a new generation of microelectrodes.
A research coordinated by the UAB Institut de Neurociències (INc-UAB) has studied the capacity of a new material derived from graphene, EGNITE, to stimulate and record from the peripheral nerve. Furthermore, its biocompatibility has been validated, which is key for preserving the function of the interface over time. The research was carried out in the Neuroplasticity and Regeneration group of the INc-UAB, led by professor Xavier Navarro of the UAB Department of Cell Biology, Physiology and Immunology, in collaboration with Jose Garrido’s research group at the Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia (ICN2), which was in charge of developing the EGNITE together with the neural interfaces.
These electrodes, implanted in rat sciatic nerve, were shown to be capable of producing selective muscle activation for up to a maximum of 60 days. “The reduction in the electrical current necessary to produce this muscle activation is notable in comparison to other larger metal microelectrodes”, explains Bruno Rodríguez-Meana, postdoctoral researcher at the INc-UAB and first author of the article. Furthermore, the electrodes with EGNITE demonstrated to be biocompatible, since none of the functional tests showed significant alterations produced by the implanted interfaces nor was exacerbated inflammation observed.
“The next steps will consist of the optimization of the EGNITE-based technology and its application in pre-clinical studies for vagus nerve or spinal cord stimulation systems. In parallel, progress is being made towards its clinical translation in bioelectronic medicine approaches”, explains Professor Navarro.
Together, these results indicate the potential of the material derived from graphene to be part of neuroprostheses that allow patients to recover lost functions, thus improving their capacity and quality of life.
