The Graphene-Info newsletter (April 4, 2023)

Versarien has stated that that it will require further funding to support its activities as it continues to face a number of challenges. However, the Company said it has the potential to deliver significant returns from the commercialization of its technology and expects to overcome the challenges and successfully commercialize its significant technology base.

Versarien's Board is evaluating options for divestment of its mature businesses, which are no longer core activities, to focus solely on exploiting graphene technology. In addition, the Board is reviewing its overseas operations in Spain and South Korea. The Company noted that significant cost reductions have already occurred, and non-executive directors have agreed to waive any remuneration from the company indefinitely. The executive directors' pay is also being reviewed. Despite these cost reductions, as abovementioned, the Company will require further funding to support its activities, and the Board is evaluating all appropriate options.

LayerOne (formerly  Abalonyx) and SINTEF  (a Norway-based research institute) have secured funding from The Norwegian Research Council for the development of innovative, scalable and sustainable conductive inks based on reduced graphene oxide (rGO). The rGO-based inks promise improved electrical conductivity and stability surpassing traditional carbon-based inks and offering a less toxic and more cost-effective alternative to metal-based inks.

The research project is a result of LayerOne’s recent breakthrough in developing a new grade of rGO with an electrical conductivity two orders of magnitude greater than standard rGO grades. In the project, LayerOne will supply the advanced rGO materials while SINTEF will leverage and build on its experience from recently concluded projects on printed electronics to develop the new conductive inks.

NanoXplore and Martinrea International, a global automotive supplier engaged in the design, development and manufacturing of highly engineered, value-added Lightweight Structures and Propulsion Systems, through its subsidiary, Martinrea Innovation Developments, have announced NanoXplore's purchase of Martinrea Innovation's 50% equity stake in VoltaXplore.

NanoXplore now owns 100% of the equity and intellectual property in VoltaXplore and Martinrea has increased its existing equity position in NanoXplore from 21.1% to 22.7%. VoltaXplore was formed as a joint venture between NanoXplore and Martinrea in 2021 to collaborate on developing graphene-enhanced Li-ion battery cells for electric vehicles and grid storage and to explore the potential to build a battery gigafactory. NanoXplore will seek to finance the battery gigafactory within VoltaXplore.

Sparc Technologies has announced the commissioning of Sparc's ecosparc commercial production facility. The state of the art facility aims to enable Sparc to produce commercial quantities of the graphene additive product, ecosparc®. Target markets include the global coatings industry, composites and other graphene additive applications.

The new production facility will enable Sparc to provide commercial quantities of graphene additive product for trials with global coatings companies. The
Company is currently undertaking evaluations with potential global end users with results from these evaluations expected in Q3 and Q4 CY23 respectively. In
parallel, the company is pursuing opportunities to target Australian coatings companies that are looking to enhance the anti-corrosive and environmental
performance of their products, with the addition of ecosparc.

It was recently reported that First Graphene is working with solar company Greatcell Australia on graphene enhancements to perovskite solar cell technology. 

Perovskites are a family of materials with a unique crystal structure that have potential for many applications, the most prominent of which is low cost, efficient solar cells. Greatcell Australia has established a pilot plant in New South Wales and is in the advanced stages of testing its range of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) with manufacturers around the world. Greatcell is aiming to fit its modular production lines into 40-foot shipping containers, due in part to the easier assembly and reduced number of steps to produce PSCs compared to silicon solar cells.

Researchers from the University of Amsterdam, New York University and Spain's CSIC have developed a way to build micrometer-size models of atomic graphene using 'patchy particles’ - particles which are large enough to be easily visible in a microscope but small enough to reproduce many of the properties of actual atoms, can interact with the same coordination as the atoms in graphene, and form the same structures.

Using these patchy particles, the team built a model system and used it to obtain insight into the defects in 2D materials, including their formation and evolution over time.