Ivanhoe’s Kipushi zinc mine in the DRC officially reopens
The restart marked exactly a century since the mine first went into production.
Zen Graphene Solutions (TSXV: ZEN) signed a new research collaboration agreement with the Deutsches Zentrum für Luft-und Raumfahrt, (DLR) the German Aerospace Center to investigate the use of Albany Pure graphene-based nanomaterials in the fabrication of novel carbon aerogel composites.
In a press release, Zen said that the project is titled “Development of Innovative Composites based on Carbon Aerogels” and its goal is to develop electrode materials for new generation batteries.
The goal of the project is to develop electrode materials for new generation batteries
“In November 2019, Zen reported on encouraging preliminary results on graphene-carbon aerogel battery development work which indicated that relatively low loadings (<5 wt.%) of graphene-based material, combined with DLR’s proprietary carbon aerogel structure, can result in an anode with a significant specific discharge capacity,” the company’s media brief states.
“Preliminary best results were achieved with a 2 wt.% loading of graphene dispersed in aerogel and resulted in an initial specific discharge capacity of 2800 mAh/g and a discharge capacity of 1300 mAh/g after 50 cycles at a current capacity of 186 mA/g.”
According to the Canadian firm, these unoptimized results were believed to be better than those currently reported in the literature for graphene aerogel batteries.
Graphene-enhanced aerogels could have the potential to be low-cost, low-weight, high-performance composite materials for near future energy storage applications.
Zen’s graphene is produced from Albany Pure Graphite which, in turn, is sourced from the company’s Albany deposit in Ontario, Canada.
