A groundbreaking new technique could be used to produce high-quality graphene "skin" at a surprisingly low cost.
This "electronic skin" could be used in robot manufacturing, the University of Exeter reported. The new technique has already been used to produce a transparent and flexible touch-sensor,a dn the researchers believe it could pave the way for a "a graphene-driven industrial revolution."
"The vision for a 'graphene-driven industrial revolution' is motivating intensive research on the synthesis of high quality and low cost graphene. Currently, industrial graphene is produced using a technique called Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD). Although there have been significant advances in recent years in this technique, it is still an expensive and time consuming process."
The new technique allows scientists to grow graphene in a state-of-the-art industrial cold wall CVD system, which is already used for other manufacturing purposes in the semiconductor industry. The discovery could allow graphene to be mass produced at 100 times the rate that is possible with current techniques.
"The ability to manufacture high quality, large area graphene (at a low cost) is essential for advancing this exciting material from pure science and proof-of-concept into the realm of conventional and quantum electronic applications. After starting the collaboration with Professor Craciun's group, we are using Exeter CVD grown graphene instead of the exfoliated material in our graphene-based devices, whenever possible," said Professor Seigo Tarucha from the University of Tokyo, coordinator of the Global Center of Excellence for Physics at Tokyo university and director of the Quantum Functional System Research Group at Riken Center for Emergent Matter Science.
The method was used to create the first graphene-based transparent and flexible touch sensor, which could be used to create new flexible electronics and even the skins of future robots.
"Emerging flexible and wearable technologies such as healthcare electronics and energy-harvesting devices could be transformed by the unique properties of graphene. The extremely cost efficient procedure that we have developed for preparing graphene is of vital importance for the quick industrial exploitation of graphene," said Thomas Bointon, from Moorfield Nanotechnology and former PhD student in Professor Craciun's team at Exeter.
The findings were published in a recent edition of the journal Advanced Material.
