Innovative clothing manufacturer Vollebak has produced a jacket made with graphene that can conduct power, store body heat and repel bacteria.
The reversible item outwardly resembles a regular raincoat. One side it is constructed from a new fabric made from graphene blended with polyurethane and nylon, while the other is made from matte black high-stretch, high-strength nylon.

The graphene-hybrid material can store and conduct the wearer's body heat and transfer it equally around the body. It can also theoretically store an unlimited amount of heat from an outside source, which means it can work like a radiator if the graphene layer is worn touching the skin.
As well as conducting heat, the Vollebak's jacket repels bacteria, conducts power, allows sweat to evaporate, and keeps wind and rain out, but without adding any weight. It has no seams, as the fabric is laser-cut and thermally sealed.
Producing the fabric involved turning raw graphene, a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in hexagonal form, into graphene nanoplatelets ? small stacks of graphene.

Made up of a single layer of carbon atoms, graphene is one of the strongest materials known to science. Since it was isolated in 2004, designers have been developing a wide range of uses for the material including incorporating it in hair dye, water filters and night-vision contact lenses.
"Until today the challenge has been how to get graphene out of research labs and into the real world," said Nick...