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nanotimes EU-Projects

GRAPHENE-CA appointed an EU Future Emerging Technology Flagship Pilot

A coordination action on graphene will be funded by the European Commission to develop plans for a 10-year, EUR1,000 million FET flagship. This is an ambitious, large-scale visionary research initiative, ai- ming at a breakthrough for technological innovation and economic exploitation based on graphene and related two-dimensional materials.

The graphene flagship aims to bring together a large, focused, interdisciplinary European research com- munity, acting as a sustainable incubator of new branches of ICT applications, ensuring that Europe- an industries will have a major role in this radical technology shift over the next 10 years. An effective transfer of knowledge and technology to industries will enable product development and production.

The graphene flagship already includes over 130 research groups, representing 80 academic and industrial partners in 21 European countries. The coordination action is AMO lead by a consortium of nine partners who pioneered graphene research, in- novation, and networking activities. Coordinated by Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, it in- cludes the Universities of Manchester, Lancaster, and Cambridge in the UK, the Catalan Institute of Nano- technology in Spain, the Italian National Research Council, the European Science Foundation, AMO GmbH in Germany, and the Nokia corporation. The advisory council includes Nobel Laureates Andre Geim (University of Manchester), Konstantin Novose- lov (University of Manchester), Albert Fert (THALES) and Klaus von Klitzing (Max-Planck Institute), the leading graphene theoretician Francisco Guinea

11-04 :: April/May 2011

(CSIC, Spain), as well as Luigi Colombo (Texas Instru- ments, USA) and Byung Hee Hong (SKK University, Korea), both pioneers of graphene mass production and graphene-based product development. The pilot phase coordination action starts on May 1.

http://www.graphene-flagship.eu Smart Clothing

As part of the “Novel temperature regulating fibres and garments” (Noterefiga) project, researchers in Sweden are investigating how they can develop technology to achieve aims that will outperform ma- terials presently available for thermal management in garments.

Clothes with built-in thermo-regulating properties allow a steady temperature to be retained in harsh environments and during strenuous physical activity. According to the researchers, such smart clothing would reduce discomfort caused by the accumu- lation of sweat and moisture in clothing as well as stop the chills commonly experienced during varying activity levels and in ambient conditions. The tempe- rature-regulating effect is achieved by incorporating large amounts of phase-changing materials (PCMs) in textile fibres. When the body temperature increases, the PCM melts and absorbs the heat from the body in the form of latent heat. Then, when the tempera- ture drops, the PCM crystallises and the stored heat is released again.

The Noterefiga project will investigate the suitability of new bio-based fibres such as polylactide and conventional synthetic polymers for use in such