News articles

Graphene Flagship researchers show how the 2d material graphene can improve the energy capacity, efficiency and stability of lithium-oxygen batteries.

Ultra-fast detection of light lies at the heart of optical communication systems nowadays. Driven by the internet of things and 5G, data communication bandwidth is growing exponentially, thus requiring even faster optical detectors that can be integrated into photonic circuits.

Graphene Flagship will take on board 13 partnering projects, as a result of a Joint Transnational Call, with a total budget of 9,9 million €.

Producing graphene in bulk is critical when it comes to the industrial exploitation of this exceptional two-dimensional material. To that end, Graphene Flagship researchers have developed a novel variant on the chemical vapour deposition process which yields high quality material in a scalable manner. This advance should significantly narrow the performance gap between synthetic and natural graphene.

Graphene Flagship researchers have developed an optical fibre laser that emits pulses with durations equivalent to just a few wavelengths of the light used. This fastest ever laser based on graphene will be ideal for use in ultrafast spectroscopy, and in surgical lasers that avoid heat damage to living tissue.

Researchers with Europe’s Graphene Flagship have demonstrated superconducting electric currents in the two-dimensional material graphene that bounce between sheet edges without scattering. This first direct observation of the ballistic mirroring of electron waves in a 2d system with supercurrents could lead to the use of graphene-based Josephson junctions in applications such as advanced digital logic circuits, ultrasensitive magnetometers and voltmeters.

Keynote presentations on the third day of Graphene Week 2015 offered an eclectic mix of fundamental science and practical chemical engineering. Here we report briefly on each of the talks, beginning with an introduction to optoelectronics in 2d semiconductors and heterostructures, and concluding with an outline of a highly promising ‘kitchen sink’ approach to graphene production.

Graphene Week 2015 was buzzing with activity throughout the University of Manchester venue, with more than 600 delegates presenting and discussing their work, networking and making plans for the future. Each morning of the conference was given over to plenary sessions, with keynote presentations from invited speakers. Here we report on the Tuesday plenary, which was devoted to the electronic properties of graphene and related layered materials.

Graphene Week 2015 saw the launch of Women in Graphene, a support network for women in graphene and related 2d materials research. As in other areas of science and engineering, women make up significant proportion of the 2d materials workforce, but they face a number of gender-specific barriers to career progression.

Two of the fringe sessions at the recent conference in Manchester were devoted to the publishing of scientific research. The first of these was organised by Institute of Physics Publishing, which produces a number of academic journals, other periodicals and books. Another session was hosted by editors from Nature Publishing Group, responsible for Nature and a large number of thematic journals, some of which are used extensively by graphene researchers.

Graphene Week 2015 in Manchester saw the BBC World Service in town to record an episode of The Forum – a radio discussion programme that tackles the big questions of our age with some of the world’s most eminent thinkers, movers and shakers.

Graphene Week 2015 has drawn to a close after a hugely successful conference in Manchester. More than 600 delegates at the Graphene Flagship event last week presented and discussed a mass of outstanding science and engineering research results, and took part in a number of fringe sessions, including a BBC World Service panel discussion and an open forum. They also enjoyed the premiere of Graphene Suite – a musical composition by the National Graphene Institute’s composer-in-residence.

Graphene Week 2015 is awash with outstanding research results, but one presentation has created quite a stir at this Graphene Flagship conference. To a stunned audience, Robert Roelver of Stuttgart-based engineering firm Bosch reported on Thursday that company researchers, together with scientists at the Max-Planck Institute for Solid State Research, have created a graphene-based magnetic sensor 100 times more sensitive than an equivalent device based on silicon.