The first development came at the beginning of the year in January, when Californian battery manufacturer Lyten announced that it was working with the U.S. government to develop graphene batteries for the U.S Space Force.
They develop materials based on graphene and two-dimensional crystals for the manufacturing and energy industries. In 2020, they teamed up with IIT and the largest battery manufacturer in Europe, Graphene Flagship partner VARTA Microinnovation, to develop graphene-enabled silicon-based lithium-ion batteries.
The latest development in the graphene battery space has come from a new Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) startup called PolyJoule. These batteries are based on a standard two–electrode electrochemical cell and use a combination of conductive polymers and hybrid carbon–graphene materials.
Graphene manufacturer and producer of graphene-based batteries Nanotech Energy Inc. reported Aug. 10 it had raised $64 million in funding to be used toward the development of a high-volume graphene manufacturing facility in Reno, Nevada, as well as a potential new headquarters in Amsterdam.
Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov presented it to the world 20 years ago this month and later won a Nobel Prize for the work. Since its unveiling, billions of dollars of R&D funding have flowed to graphene, in a global race to exploit its peerless properties.
Based out of California, the company has made significant progress with graphene, even so far as successfully creating a method to manufacture graphene at the mass production scale. As the only producer of non-flammable, graphene-based batteries, this latest funding is a testament to the potential of this company.