Vol 9 Issue 1

This month Time Magazine named the graphene kitchen styler as one of the best inventions of 2022. This is the graphene cooker we mentioned back in vol 6 iss 2 p.30. The company behind this invention, Graphene Square, announced another product this month, the graphene virtual fireplace radiator. Both devices use large area chemical vapour deposition (CVD) graphene. The virtual fireplace radiator has already won another innovation award and will make its debut at the consumer electronics show in Los Angeles, USA in January 2023. The immediate reaction from people working in the graphene and 2D materials community has been to greet these announcements with a wry smile. My first reaction was to dismiss this as gimmickry as well. Then I thought a little more. You will know, dear reader, that great advances have been made developing manufacturing methods for large area sheet graphene using the CVD technique. Production machines exist in Europe, America, and Asia, some of which can make graphene at speeds of 2m/min and lengths of up to one kilometre (vol 5 iss 8 p.36). A manufacturing business survives by making things and then selling them at a profit. These companies have solved the science and engineering problems to create impressive production capabilities. This is only half of the survival equation. They must develop equally impressive marketing and sales operations to match. In this issue we notice that USA based manufacturer General Graphene is still struggling to find the applications that will be the foundation for the marketing and sales operation. Meanwhile Graphene Square, from South Korea is making cookers and toasters. The reason they are launching apparently trivial products is because they need to educate the market by getting the message out to potential customers that CVD graphene is real, it can be manufactured at scale and integrated into everyday products. This message will not be lost on manufactures in the automotive and aerospace sectors as well as consumer electronics. And consider this, Time Magazine has over three million subscribers, and a wider reach online. Also in this issue, graphene powder manufacturer, Applied Graphene Materials has announced it is in financial trouble. It will run out of cash at the end of January 2023 unless it can find cash from somewhere. The reason for its troubles? A lack of success finding market applications for its graphene that will generate profitable sales. A reminder to us all that developing sophisticated products is only part of the road to success. Making customers aware of the value of your product is key because if you get this right, they will prize your offering as much as you do, and this will lead to profitable sales and a sustainable business. Adrian Nixon 1st December 2022

Over the past five years, we have been paying attention to how graphene can improve battery technology. The market focus has been on batteries for electric vehicles. Graphene has been used in the electrodes, and this has made improvements in charging time and battery life. However, energy density has not been improved. Energy density is the amount of energy that can be squeezed into a given volume or mass. This is important for electric vehicles because the higher the energy density, the further a vehicle can travel for a given quantity of batteries. MIT have been paying attention to this battery development dynamic. A spin out company from the university called PolyJoule has developed a new battery (p. 21). This has even poorer energy density, one fifth that of lithium-ion technology, so this is not going to be used for electric vehicles. The MIT researchers have spotted another market – grid storage. These new batteries appear to be ideal for grid storage applications. They charge and discharge rapidly have a long battery life, do not require cooling, and do not need lithium and toxic heavy metals. These batteries are a new intermediate-type between lithium ion and lead-acid technology. We will pay closer attention to this company in the future because storing electricity from renewables such as wind and solar power requires effective grid storage batteries. Also in this issue, Debbie interviewed the CEO of Ceylon Graphene Technologies. This company has local access to some of the highest quality graphite in the world and is very well equipped to process and develop this into high quality graphene powders (p. 7). The company is actively working on new products and extending the value chain towards the market applications. It will be fascinating to see the results of this activity in the market in the coming years. Yet more fascinating research is being published. You may recall that Debbie met Chris Griggs and Sarah Grace Zetterholm of the US Army ERDC (Vol 5 iss 12, p.10). Their team has developed a graphene filter that removes the toxin produced by algal blooms. This filter cleans up poisoned water that is harmful to humans and fish(p.13) Staying with the biology theme, researchers in the Netherlands have developed a graphene sensor that can listen to the sounds made by individual bacteria. This sensor could find uses exploring the effectiveness of antibiotics with unprecedented precision. Another team in the Netherlands has been developing graphene sensors for testing in space. SpaceX launched these sensors this month. The sensors are now approaching a sun synchronous orbit where their performance will be evaluated. Graphene really is out of this world, and as usual there is so much more to read in this issue. Adrian Nixon, 1st May 2022