Researchers created a method for producing industrial quantities of quality graphene.
Graphene is an extremely strong material that is made from carbon and is only a single-atom-thick, an AMBER news release reported. It had been described as "wonder material" in the past; it can conduct electricity along with its extraordinary dimensions.
The material could be used for a number of applications such as: "advanced food packaging; high strength plastics; foldable touch screens for mobile phones and laptops; super-protective coatings for wind turbines and ships; faster broadband and batteries with dramatically higher capacity than anything available today," the news release reported.
In the past researchers could not produce graphene in large quantities, so it could not be used commercially. In this new production method researchers used tools such as shear mixers to transform graphite flakes into defect-free graphene.
The researchers demonstrated that graphene-containing liquid could be produced in quantities of a few hundred millimeters, but could be "scaled up" hundreds if liters.
"This shows how industry and academic collaboration can lead to research of the highest [caliber], with real commercial applications. This paper combines basic and applied research and contains elements of physics, chemistry, materials science and chemical engineering. It brings together academic expertise with the wealth of experience provided by [Doctor] Keith Paton, Thomas Swan's researcher who is working with us here on-site in AMBER. Graphene has been identified as a life changing material and to be involved at this stage of development is a wonderful achievement," Professor Jonathan Coleman, Professor of Chemical Physics at Trinity College and AMBER said in the news release.
Thomas Swan Ltd. has been working with the researchers and plans to make the material commercially available. The company has already announced two new products that will be available in the near future, Elicarb®Graphene Powder and Elicarb® Graphene Dispersion, the news release reported.
