Graphenea announces the launch of a new product: graphene oxide powder.
Since graphene was first reported in 2004, made using mechanical exfoliation from graphite, graphene oxide (GO) has attracted a great deal of interest, as researchers have explored simpler, more efficient, cheaper and better yielding methods of synthesizing graphene from GO, which can be scaled up easily and retain commercially viable properties for industrial applications.
Due to the presence of oxygen functionalities, graphene oxide can easily disperse in organic solvents, water, and different matrices. This is a major benefit when combining the material with polymer or ceramic matrices to enhance their mechanical and electrical properties. GO has hence found many uses in composites, for applications such as energy storage, construction, sporting equipment, aerospace and automotive.
In energy storage GO and reduced GO (rGO) have been tested in several roles. Most notably, graphene is increasingly used in electrodes, improving the performance of Li-ion batteries but also making possible the development of novel LiS and Li-air batteries. There is also a large research push to create graphene supercapacitors, energy storage devices that would recharge much faster than batteries that we're used to today. In the construction industry, graphene finds its use in impermeable paint, anti-corrosion layers, smart windows, and reinforced concrete. These applications rely on graphene's low permeability to liquid or gas contaminants, high transparency, and high mechanical strength. Use in the sports industry comes naturally, as sporting equipment needs to be lightweight yet durable, both properties that graphene excels in. The same qualities propel the use of graphene in automotive and aerospace industries.
All these applications will benefit from a dry form of GO because, compared to GO suspended in liquid, dry GO is easier to dispense in a composite matrix, eliminating extra chemistry steps in production. Graphene oxide powder is available in 1-gram packages, as is dry rGO.
