Vol 9 Issue 3

Evidence is mounting in support of the low toxicity of graphene. The Swiss federal research laboratories have added to the body of evidence this month (p.16). They explored the effects of dusts generated by graphene enhanced polymers when they are abraded and found no toxic effects and minor respiratory inflammation. This means the dusts created during the recycling process of graphene enhanced polymer composites (in this case, nylon PA6) represent a low health hazard. As a regular reader, you will know that graphene is being trialled as an additive to enhance the life of asphalt roads. In the UK Kent County Council and the University of Nottingham have just released data from the field trials on roads in the county (p.33). They found that graphene: • Extends the surface lifetime by approximately 2.5 times to last up to 25 years • Over 65-year asset life, a carbon saving of 23kg CO2/m2 of road surface • Created a 32% reduction in cost over the lifetime of the asset Graphene applications supported by data get more of our attention. GMG has commissioned its graphene enhanced battery plant in Australia. These batteries have a lower energy density than lithium ion and nickel metal batteries. This might not sound important, but aluminium and graphene are common materials that can be made with low environmental impact when compared with lithium, cobalt & nickel. A new electric vehicle has been launched this month. UK hypercar manufacturer has presented its Apricale hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle (HFCEV). The car has a top speed of over 300km/hr and a range over 500km. Graphene enhanced polymer composites are used to make the hydrogen fuel tank. The car does need batteries but because these are for supporting power it needs much less than a normal EV. This raises an interesting possibility, could lower energy density battery technology such as aluminium ion be used in conjunction with fuel cell technology to make better, sustainable electric vehicles? All these developments use graphene powders. Meanwhile large area sheet CVD graphene makes steady progress. A team at the University of Texas has made a ‘graphene tattoo’ sensor that can be applied to the skin to continuously monitor blood pressure. Using graphene means there is no inflammatory response from the wearer, and the sensor provides the highest sensitivity rating. Continuing the CVD theme, we interview the CEO of one of the leading graphene manufacturing companies, Jeff Draa provides insight into how he makes his CVD graphene and how they monitored customers to help them focus on the applications most likely to drive commercial success. You can find out about all this and more in this fascinating issue, dear reader please read on… Adrian Nixon 1st July 2022

We begin this month with a review of a new book by James Baker and James Tallentire – “Graphene: The Route to Commercialisation.” This book will be released later this month and well worth a read. It is part history of the graphene story and part how-to-guide to create a sustainable innovation ecosystem for new advanced materials. Graphene composites are making the news. The graphene-asphalt road trials in the UK have produced successful results. Oxfordshire County Council reports that graphene-enhanced asphalt improves the life of the road surface by 70%, and graphene enhances the stiffness of the surface, making it less prone to rutting. Another trial is underway on a 700m stretch of road with heavier traffic to see if similar benefits are reported. Korea is experimenting with graphene-metal composites to build new power lines for its electricity grid. The national power company announced a research project to enhance the power transmission capacity of the country’s energy distribution network. On a smaller scale, researchers in the USA are using graphene oxide scaffolds to create new bone using stem cells. Graphene oxide has been making more appearances on social media. Reuters felt compelled to investigate claims that graphene oxide was being put into ibuprofen tablets. Their conclusion was that these are false claims. Elsewhere, rather serious accusations are starting to emerge about one of Canada’s biggest graphene companies. Zentek (previously Zen Graphene Solutions) has been accused of unethical business practises. Prof. Rodney Ruoff’s group in Korea have been working with teams in Saudi Arabia and China to make large area single-crystal graphene. They used the chemical vapour deposition (CVD) process but allowed graphene to diffuse into the copper metal close to its melting point. This grew the graphene at the interface between the metal and a sapphire substrate. They added another clever step by diffusing nitrogen into the copper then rapidly heating the sample. This caused the nitrogen to expand, blowing off the copper, leaving the graphene exposed and undamaged. We can expect the team to speed up and scale up the process over the coming years. This team is one to watch. There are many more things to watch out for in this issue, dear reader. I will delay you no longer and let you dive into this month’s carefully curated content… Adrian Nixon, 1st April 2022