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Did you know that the William Blythe team have the capability to custom manufacture functionalised forms of graphene oxide?

The R&D team at William Blythe has a wealth of experience in property manipulation of their existing range of inorganic speciality chemicals and advanced materials. As our knowledge around graphene oxide expands, the team at William Blythe have started to look at how their standard graphene oxide can be modified to make it more appropriate for a given environment, or more compatible with the matrix it is being used in and how modifications can improve the performance of the graphene oxide in end applications. William Blythe feel this is an important step to take – the number of applications which graphene oxide could prove beneficial in is unprecedented. While a standard material is likely to give improvement in more than one area, it is also likely that the material will need tuning to each of the applications it is being used in.

Recent research has started looking at controlling the oxygen content of the graphene oxide, and controlling the ratio of oxygen functional groups on the surface. Some research has also been carried out on adding additional functionality to the surface of graphene oxide by substituting some of the oxygen groups with alternatives. While this research is in its early stages, William Blythe is confident that this will lead to additional application led product specifications in the future.

Since launching the GOgraphene site, we have received requests for custom synthesis of R&D quantities of functionalised graphene oxide. This has been for various applications and to both new and existing graphene oxide users. If you have a specific form of graphene oxide you would be interested in, please get in touch. We are happy to evaluate all enquiries – we want our graphene oxide to perform the way you need it to in your application and will do our best to ensure this is the case.

Defined as an airway inflammation, asthma affects around 300 million people around the world. Current non-invasive methods for monitoring asthma are not only expensive, but are also limited by low sensitivity. One avenue of research around asthma monitoring is the use of biomarkers in exhaled breath condensate (EBC). The droplets of fluid which are exhaled during normal breathing include non-volatile compounds such as nitrate, nitrite and hydrogen peroxide as well as larger molecules such as proteins. There have been several research studies examining the use of EBC nitrite as a biomarker for measuring both inflammation and oxidative distress in the respiratory tract with promising results achieved.

A recent paper published in Microsystems & Nanoengineering looked at using reduced graphene oxide for electrochemical sensing of nitrite content in exhaled breath condensate. The sensors were made by adding a 3 µL aliquot of graphene oxide dispersion to a gold electrode before drying the surface at room temperature. A glass slide was used to ensure a thin, even GO layer across the surface was achieved. The graphene oxide was then reduced electrochemically. Through multiple experiments, the researchers were able to demonstrate high precision in quantifying nitrite in the samples tested in the clinically relevant µM range. The team validated the performance of their sensors on clinical EBC samples by comparing to results previously achieved by chemiluminescence.

If you are interested in using graphene oxide in your research, please get in touch. A member of the GOgraphene team will be happy to help answer your questions about which graphene oxide product might perform best and how we can support your research programme moving forward.

Microsystems & Nanoengineering, 2017, 3, 17022

After a 12 month development programme, William Blythe launched their GOgraphene webshop to supply research scale quantities of graphene oxide to the market. Just over 6 months later, William Blythe is now seeking to not only increase their graphene oxide capacity, but also to start working with leaders in the field on developing application enhanced grades of graphene oxide.

Over the past few weeks, William Blythe have attended several graphene oxide and 2D material related events throughout Europe, listening to the requirements of the exciting technologies graphene oxide is being applied in. A recent event at the National Graphene Institute (NGI) in Manchester, UK, gave the opportunity for one of William Blythe’s Development Chemists to present on our graphene oxide. Looking at how the project was conceived through to commercialisation and next steps, the presentation allowed the attending researchers, both academic and industrial, to learn more about how William Blythe can help to develop and commercialise the materials they need.

Our team will continue to attend events to learn more about industry requirements, with the next one scheduled for the 21st June, also at the NGI. If you are holding an event and would like William Blythe to participate, please send us the details.

Air pollution is an increasing issue for people around the globe, especially those living in large cities. While the drive to swap to cleaner, greener technologies and alternatives grows, there is still a need to offer air purification in many technology areas. The issues of air purity affect not only the outdoor environment, but also indoors. The building, its decoration and the local levels of Radon gas can all impact the air quality inside buildings.

A 2015 paper by Xiong et al worked on combining absorption with photocatalysis. The concept was to increase the concentration of pollutants around a photocatalyst by absorbing them onto an adjacent surface. The photocatalytic oxidation process would then regenerate the absorbent, preventing the surface from becoming saturated and a “one use only” technology.

Their research focussed on the development of a graphene aerogel combined with titanium dioxide. Titanium dioxide is well known for its photocatalytic activity while graphene aerogels are of great interest due to their exceptionally high surface area. The group added the titanium oxide to a graphene oxide dispersion and then went on to functionalise the graphene oxide by reacting it with ethylenediamine before converting it into an aerogel. The group found that the shape of the aerogel was easily directed by the shape of the vessel it was formed in, offering great flexibility for creating air purification cartridges. At the time of publication, while the group had confirmed that the desired material could be made, further work was still needed to understand the purification capability of the TiO2/graphene aerogel.

If you would be interested in using graphene oxide in your research, please get in touch.

Procedia Engineering, 2015, 121, 957 – 960

Graphene oxide was first reported in the literature over 150 years ago, at a time when there was little interest in exploring the benefits of the material in the multitude of application areas it is currently being used in. Interest in graphene oxide rose dramatically with the discovery of, and Nobel prize for, graphene. The subsequent years have seen the use of graphene oxide in a diverse range of applications, with many researchers focussing on graphene oxide as a potential precursor material for graphene with specific graphene oxide applications now under development.

With no suppliers, initial graphene oxide researchers were unable to purchase graphene oxide and therefore synthesised all of their own material. Despite multiple graphene oxide suppliers launching a variety of products for this market in the past few years, some researchers are still undecided as to whether they should purchase or make their own graphene oxide for their work. While William Blythe understand that there are always reasons to synthesise your own graphene oxide, we have tried to overcome some of the most common concerns around purchase with our GOgraphene webshop.

Consistent quality 

William Blythe are aware that some suppliers do not offer a consistent product. As an established chemicals manufacturer with over 150 years’ experience supplying chemicals, we ensure our graphene oxide meets the same high standards as our other products before we dispatch your order.

Flexibility

Buying from someone else will always reduce some of the flexibility compared to in house synthesis. William Blythe have tried to overcome this by offering multiple product forms, developing a high concentration dispersion which can be easily diluted and by taking requests for custom functionalisation of our standard material.

Availability 

To keep results comparable, most researchers do not want to swap materials supply part way through their research programme. We monitor our stock levels carefully to make sure we always have enough of our graphene oxide to fulfil our orders. Keep an eye on our lead times if you have any concerns

Volume 

Graphene oxide is currently only available for purchase online in relatively low quantities. Some researchers are concerned that the raw materials availability will prevent their application from being scalable. As William Blythe has already developed scale-up plans, this need not be a concern. Not only is our process is scalable, but within 12 months of demand projections requiring it, William Blythe can scale on to a dedicated multi-tonne production facility.

Price 

Some materials suppliers fluctuate their prices, meaning there are some researchers who do not want to become reliant on a materials supplier. The graphene oxide available on the GOgraphene webshop has never been increased in price. Depending on the currency you are purchasing in, the screen may display slight variations, however our GBP pricing has not been increased since launch.

We hope that the above helps to alleviate some of the concerns which we know exist in the marketplace. If you have other concerns or questions regarding purchase versus in house synthesis, please get in touch. There are a host of benefits to purchasing graphene oxide, including saving time and removing the need for hazardous synthesis. If you are ready to switch to buying graphene oxide, please take a look at our current product portfolio.