Description
The world’s biggest deal involving a graphene company was announced this month. Graphene Innovations Manchester Ltd (GIM) has signed a deal with the Quazar Investment Company based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that will see the two forming a new joint venture company with over $1billion of investment.
Dr. Vivek Koncherry, the founder of GIM will be the CEO of the world’s first billion-dollar graphene company. GIM is also a tier 1 partner at the graphene engineering innovation centre (GEIC). This represents a major achievement for the innovation ecosystem based around the GEIC at the University of Manchester, UK, led by James Baker.
The Financial Times reports that one of the early GIM graphene enhanced products will be a new kind of waterless concrete made from waste plastic. Given that the UAE is rich in plastics and money but poor in water resources, you can see why the country is investing so much in this highly innovating start-up company.
We also note that one of the first graphene companies, Applied Graphene Materials has finally disappeared as Canada based Universal Matter completes its acquisition of the company. Universal Matter knows what it is doing. AGM has the channels to market and dispersion technology for its graphene products. Universal Matter can bring a new ‘green graphene’ (Flash Graphene) to enhance the old AGM portfolio and provide a foothold in the UK and European markets.
An independent researcher has replicated the work on Flash Graphene and was astonished by the by the resulting performance improvements in a polymer composite. If you have an interest in how the manufacturing process works, then the article on page 19 is worth a read.
Still keeping with the industrial and environmental theme, Graphite Innovation & Technologies Inc. (GIT) have just received $10 million of investment. The company has developed graphene enhanced antifouling paint for marine applications. They have found the graphene coating improves fuel efficiency, helps reduce marine microplastics and reduces the amount of noise pollution in the marine environment. Not bad for a paint. You can read more on pages 28 and 34.
There is so much more to read in this issue. Andre Geim is famous for his collaborative and open approach. He has led work that has discovered a new superlative property of graphene (p.15). Also, his personal example has created a culture of collaboration and openness that has made the field of superconductivity research particularly scandal free productive. I encourage you to explore this packed issue dear reader, there is so much more than can be summarised on one page.
Adrian Nixon
1st May 2023
