Due to the discovery of more graphene applications, the University of Pennsylvania has established a small research company named “Graphene Frontiers” to provide technological solutions for production of quality graphene. This body was awarded 0.744 million dollars in September to improve production of graphene in a unique process known as the roll-to-roll process. This process is expected to make the production of high quality graphene more efficient than the rather. Graphene Frontiers is making attempts to lead other producers into creating polycrystalline mono-layers of graphene through a roll-on-roll process, as opposed to the current chemical vapor decomposition (CDV) process.

Types of graphene

There are two major types of graphene: monocrystalline and polycrystalline. These two types have different applications. Polycrystalline graphene is crucial to manufacture some types of transistors and advanced composites, while monocrystalline graphene is used in more advanced applications. Despite the high demand for monocrystalline graphene, its methods of extraction do not allow large scale production. Up to date, monocrystalline graphene is produced through mechanical cleavage a technique in which graphene is extracted from graphite in single layer flakes.

This limitation has attracted a lot of investments in research into best ways to extract monocrystalline graphene. One of the companies that has invested heavily in this is Graphene Frontiers. So far they have made a breakthrough and are working on ways of making it even better. There are numerous techniques suitable for producing excellent quality graphene, and since each of them has its own shortcomings and advantages, it is not possible to say which technique is best.

One of the most commonly used techniques entails extracting carbon layers from graphite using chemical, plasma and mechanical exfoliation techniques. Unfortunately, this process leads in the production of low quality graphene.

Advanced producers use CVD techniques which do not start with mined graphite. These result in the production of synthetic graphene. This type is of excellent quality, but the major problem is until now, convenient ways of producing it have not been realized.

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The first graphene-only integrated circuit was created by International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) three years ago. However, this was not a complete breakthrough because they used largely silicon and metal for much of the hardware. University of California Santa Barbara has made a crucial discovery that involves designing an integrated circuit completely from graphene only. This new model is based on the fact that graphene displays different qualities depending on its pattern, i.e. a wide ribbon displays metallic qualities while a narrow ribbon displays semiconductor properties. If chips would be designed this way then they would be much thinner, efficient and easier to assemble as compared to the ones made with mixed material. Currently a graphene Integrated Circuit is a theoretical computer model yet to be practically made; there are no plans to produce graphene chips at the moment, therefore this could take some time to see.

Graphene Integrated Circuit – Super computer

As scientists continue to improve silicon based ICs (which involves fashioning smaller transistors onto a chip, reducing power consumption and increasing its performance) they face challenges of contact resistance. This is resistance that builds up when components conducting electricity get in touch with each other. This may not be a problem for a single component, but when there are millions of transistors and interconnects on a chip, the combined energy is a major concern.

As a designer fuses various small components onto silicon chips, more complications emerge. This is where graphene overcomes silicon. While silicon is purely a semiconductor, graphene has both conductor and semi conductor qualities. Therefore, it can act as a metal conductor and as a semi conductor just like silicon. Due to these two major qualities of graphene, a designer can fashion the entire IC onto a graphene sheet and successfully do away with any contact resistance.

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Graphene Ink

The graphene ink has three unique qualities which make it very important; it’s a good conductor of electricity, highly flexible and has optical transparency. This is a major step towards production of cheap and foldable electronics.

Developers have used graphene to print out circuits on many materials. Graphene can work well even when just an atom thick or 14nanometres, meaning it can create a very flexible form. Various scientists have made unique inventions with graphene ink.

In some instances, developers have used modern miracle stuff graphene in printing out circuits on clothing, thereby enabling people enjoy a wearable tech which does not rely on having to attach computers to your body, wearing big watches of AR glasses.

American scientists at the Cambridge University have invented a piano made by printing piano circuit board onto a garment using highly conductive graphene, to the amazement of many, they have also printed its digital display onto a kinky plastic using graphene ink.

Scientists have developed electronic ink that can print on a laser to conduct electricity.

Some developers have suggested the use of printable circuits in embedding health monitors in garments. They have also said there is a possibility of having graphene phone displays printed on human skin. For instance, people who love watching TV in bed can have a television printed on their hands. The graphene ink can also be used in cargo loading zones; preferably airports to ensure planes are loaded with the right cargo.

Scientists have also developed a laser-based anti fraud detector to be used in identifying fake banknotes, luxury goods and pharmaceuticals. This detector is based on the method used to print liquid crystal lasers using ink jet printers. Upon the technology getting fully established, it will save the millions of people who buy fake products unaware while believing that they will recover.

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Given the impending bottleneck of supply in indium tin oxide, a material currently used as a transparent conducting film, researchers are now focusing their attention on graphene as a cheaper alternative since it has ideal properties for this purpose.

Photo-voltaic manufacturers have taken little interest in using graphene as a replacement of indium tin oxide as a transparent conducting film, even when graphene has the highest potential of filling this looming gap. This lack of interest has been partly due to little research into what happens to graphene’s attractive conductivity when used together with silicon.

This, however, will change now that researchers have found out that graphene does not lose its remarkable properties when used together with silicon.

Graphene and Silicon Solar Cell

Researchers had revealed that when graphene is incorporated into a pile of layers, same a thin film solar cell based on silicon, the material does not significantly change its conductive properties as initially feared.

The researchers used a process of chemical vapor deposition to grow the graphene on a copper sheet, transferred it to a substrate made from glass, and then covered it with a thin film made from silicon. The researchers experimented with different morphologies of silicon and found out that graphene maintained its conductive properties in all cases. Graphene still retains its properties, even when coated with silicon with different characteristics.

The conductive properties of graphene, when measured, exceeded most materials. For instance, its carrier mobility is 30 times higher than that of the conventional contact layers based on zinc oxide. Despite the fact that it is difficult to use contact layers made from graphene with external contacts, the prospects have attracted interest all over the world. Already, thin film technology enthusiasts have invested in incorporating this development in their work.

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Manufacturers will soon be able to replace silicon with carbon nanotube transistors in making transistors used in electronic devices. This is because carbon nanotubes address most of the shortcomings that silicon has. Carbon nanotubes are the ideal replacements for silicon since they exist in several allotropes — each of which have a high potential.

Carbon nanotube transistors

Recently, researchers successfully demonstrated a working computer based on carbon nanotube transistors, instead of the conventional silicon ones. This promises much smaller devices that will be exceedingly fast while consuming very low power. Initially, researchers made individual transistors from carbon nanotubes, and later advanced to making simple electronic circuits. Eventually, they interconnected the transistors to form a low-powered “Turing complete” computer from these carbon nanotube transistors.

While this demonstration cannot be considered as a breakthrough, it can be viewed as the first fundamental steps to exploring with precision the possibilities of replacing silicon in the manufacture of semiconductors. It shows that carbon nanotube transistors can make a universal computer, just like silicon.

Some of the advantages of using carbon nanotube transistors to make computers in place of silicon are that these computers will be ever more powerful, much faster and cheaper than conventional ones. They also require less power to operate that the existing ones.

Since any new technology unveiled must meet the thorough factory processes that constitute the modern semiconductor industry, it might take not less than three years for this technology to be tested and perfected before it hits the market. Some companies such as I.B.M are already wary that silicon might cease to scale down further in its use for the manufacture of transistors. These companies have, therefore, turned to the possibility of using carbon nanotubes. This computer was made in accordance with the standard industry requirements such as those used to make silicon transistors. This means that it will be possible to manufacture hybrid chips from carbon nanotubes and silicon in certain locations/proportions to extend the use of silicon.

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We will soon retrieve data from a broken device, thanks to graphene oxide’s refractive index and fluorescence that can be manipulated.

A new material promises the possibility of recovering data even from a broken device. Graphene, the ‘wonderful material’ has unique properties that include; unmatched strength, flexibility, lightness, conductivity, and transparency. These properties make graphene to next big thing that will spearhead the next generation of gadgetry design. Graphene oxide has the same characteristics, but its refractive index and fluorescence properties, which can be manipulated, make it special in making media that guarantee your data security.

Graphene Oxide

Holographic storage of data has been the talk in science for a while now but graphene oxide has made it almost real. Researchers increased the oxide’s refractive index by between ten to hundred times. They also decreased the oxide’s fluorescence to make it ideal for bioimaging and multimode optical recording. This large refractive index means that data storage can be merged with holography. This would not only ensure that the data is securely coded but also that it is easily retrievable even from a broken device.

Most companies spend a lot of resources hiring the services of data centres or establishing one. These data centres spend a lot of money replicating information several times over (back up, disaster recovery snapshot, live copy, e. t. c). The commercial realization of this graphene oxide-based holographic storage of data will save a lot of resources that go into managing data in anticipation of loss.

The discs that are currently in use today store information in binary form. If the disc breaks, it will result in automatic data loss. This, however, will no longer be the case since the new technology means that a super-disc can be made that enables data to be retrieved even from broken discs thus saving the data centres the trouble of physically duplicating data to avoid data loss.

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The days of folding your tablet or phone to fit in a purse or small pocket are approaching fast with the unveiling of foldable electronics. Unlike bendable substrate-based flexible electronics, foldable electronics rely on foldable substrates that come with a very stable electricity conductor that can withstand folding. It means that the conductor embroiled on the substrate must also be foldable.

foldable-electronics

Researchers have already considered a paper as the ultimate foldable substrate to replace plastic substrates since it is cheap, versatile and can be rolled up.

In the past, there has been positive progress in several foldable electronic applications. For instance, researchers in nanotechnology have already been successful making foldable paper batteries powered by algae as well as printing solar cells on paper.

Perhaps one of the most promising paths for foldable electronics is the use of graphene circuits based on paper substrates. Researchers have been able to fabricate foldable graphene circuits for use in electronics.

Graphene is the ideal candidate for foldable devices since it has an inimitable combination of properties that make it ideal for making unique conductive ink since it is chemically stable, mechanically flexible and suitable in conducting electricity. An Inkjet-printable ink made from graphene will lead to cheap and scalable path towards real-world technologies.

foldable electronics

The creation of a high performance foldable battery and the development of graphene based electronic circuits means that future electronics will be flexible. Manufactures will now design gadgets differently since they will now be foldable or rollable. Screen will now be bendable around corners and computers will be wearable. Electronics will be paper thin and exceptionally light. Giant electronic manufacturers such as Nokia and Samsung have invested a lot in research and development of foldable electronics and have already demonstrated a lot of success in this field.

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Nokia Investing in Grapgene

Recently, Nokia (NYSE:NOK) was awarded a $1.35 billion funding for its activities in graphene in the next ten years. These activities are mostly research that aims at developing applications from the ‘wonder material’ that are tipped to change the world. European Union gave out the grant in line with its mission, which is to promote research in high risk areas, offset by the likelihood of a breakthrough which will have a high impact in technology or the social world.

The Finnish mobile-phone maker is a member of the Graphene Flagship Consortium that brings together 74 industry leaders from the private sector as well as academia who want to improve the world with graphene.

Graphene is thin, extremely light, flexible and resilient. This makes ideal for numerous applications. Nokia has a very clear plan for graphene. The company intends to develop mobile phones that are fully flexible and exceptionally light (foldable electronics). Since 2006, Nokia has been working on graphene. It has identified areas in which graphene can be applied to develop live-changing applications. For instance, graphene transistors, which can be manufactured in almost microscopic sizes, would enable the company to make a new generation of electronics with improved features such as smaller sizes and significant weight reductions. Nokia has been making positive progress and this grant will accelerate its developments. Moreover, given that this revolutionary material carries with high stakes, the effect of Nokia’s research could give Europe a much needed edge against similar research by rivals from Asia and North America.

foldable electronics

Nokia realizes the advantage that graphene comes with as well as its effects in revolutionizing the world of mobile phone technology and even beyond. In 2008, Nokia unveiled the ‘Morph’, a mobile phone built on the concept of flexibility and nanotechnology. Made from graphene, the ‘Morph’ is capable of changing into many shapes. Nokia is also researching on the use of graphene to coat electronic devices to make them completely waterproof and impervious to fingerprints. In addition, the company is also studying the possibility of creating television screens from graphene which are flexible and foldable, just like posters.

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Recently, researchers were able to use graphene in the manufacture of a photodetector that enabled an optical chip. For some time now, graphene’s numerous promising characteristics have enticed researchers into exploring ways in which they can use it to make photodetector applications.

While graphene’s poor responsivity has limited scientific work, its wide spectral range, its speedy optoelectronic response due to its high electron mobility in, and a lack of band gaps have all contributed greatly to various application developments.

Optical Chips

Despite the fact that reduced response to light might limit graphene’s use in applications that involve digital cameras, researchers have discovered a way in which it can be used as a photodetector which converts light into electricity applied in integrated optoelectronic chips found in gadgets.

The researched developed a method to overcome the low responsivity of graphene to incoming light. They created a bias in the photodetector that would maintain the electrons disrupted by the incoming photons at a higher energy level. This bias maintains a constant voltage throughout the photodetector. To avoid the resultant noise, the researchers created a bias the photodetector without applying voltage to it.

To achieve this, the researchers used an inventive design directs light through a channel into the photodetector that is capped using graphene perpendicularly oriented to the channel. Gold electrodes are placed on both ends of the graphene, with electrode placed closer to graphene than the other. This design produces a mismatch in the energy electrons found in graphene and the metal contact. This mismatch creates an electric field close to the electrode.

In operation, the photons travel through the channel and begin to kick the electrons up to a greater energy level. The electric field then pulls these energized electrons into the electrodes, creating a current in the process- without a need to apply voltage.

This technique enables the manufacture of photodetectors that use light rather than electricity. With improvements such as thinner electrodes and narrower waveguides, it might be possible to produce higher amounts of energy.

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Samsung Electronics – Investing in Graphene

Samsung Electronics, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of electronics, is looking into graphene properties for the production of devices that are likely to change the world. Recently, the company, through its principal research and development incubator (Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology), developed a transistor structure using graphene that has ‘miracle’ characteristics.

The shortcomings of the silicon transistors that are currently in use have motivated the move into graphene transistors.

In most semiconductor devices used today, billions of transistors use silicon transistors for their performance. In order to boost their performance speeds, i.e. their speeds, manufactures either minimize the size of the silicon transistors in a bid to shorten the distance that the electrons need to travel, or replace them with materials that possess properties for faster electron mobility which will increase the output of the semiconductor devices. Over the years, most manufacturers have been reducing the size of the transistors to boost performance. However, this trend will change due to the discovery of the graphene transistors.

Graphene has electron mobility of approximately two hundred times higher than that of the conventional silicon used in making transistors used in semiconductor devices. As a result, graphene transistors are potential replacements of silicon transistors.

Graphene is the world’s thinnest material, with a thickness of one atom. In addition to being exceptional in conducting heat and electricity, it is also very strong and flexible. Samsung Electronics aims to manufacture sleek devices with these characteristics. These devices could have multiple features that aim at satisfying customers while at the same time ensuring their durability.

The fact that graphene can be used to make an ultra slim phone which is ‘bendable’ or ‘foldable’ and among other features such as transparency (just like Samsung’s ‘YOUM’) excites a lot of people.

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