Driven by demand from markets where advanced materials are required, graphene promises to outstrip all current nanomaterials, especially in electronics and energy storage applications. Other markets graphene is impacting include aerospace, automotive, coatings and paints, communications, sensors, solar, oil, and lubricants. The exceptional electron and thermal transport, mechanical properties, chemical stability of graphene and combinations thereof make it a potentially disruptive technology for electronics and energy applications.
Graphene as a new material still faces many challenges ranging from synthesis and characterization to the final device fabrication. Barriers to widespread industry uptake mirror carbon nanotubes in many respects: functionalization and dispersion; mass manufacturing at an acceptable cost (a major issue); need for application partnerships; and health and safety issues. The severe chemical conditions required to prepare graphene from naturally occurring graphite has become the biggest limiting factor for high scale graphene production and commercialization. The preparation and transfer of high quality graphene is still not viable in a cost effective manner.
Demand for graphene is still relatively small. Most sales of graphene are nanoplatelets/powders for conductive inks and polymers. CVD graphene films are primarily used in R&D. Cost remains a significant barrier to widespread industry uptake. Most large companies have a “wait and see” strategy as the commercial value has yet to be quantified and most research is at the fundamental stage. The following areas have been identified by graphene producers as key to commercial success.
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IDENTIFY APPLICATIONS EARLY: Commercial applications should be identified and developed early. Many of the most exciting applications are potentially years away-however there are numerous applications in energy, printed electronics and composites that are closer to commercial viability. Vorbeck Materials has developed smart packaging with MeadWestvaco Corporation using conductive graphene inks. Other applications nearly commercial viability include drilling fluids and graphene-polymer composites. In these applications, tiny platelets of graphene are integrated into a liquid polymer.
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SCALABILITY: Scalability and cost of production are currently the most important factors limiting graphene commercialization. Scalable production techniques that are compatible with a wide range of manufacturing processes and government regulations are essential for widespread uptake. Exfoliation techniques from graphite that result in graphene powder are currently the most commercially viable techniques due to the simplicity of the overall process, but the graphene produced is not suitable for all applications.
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COST: For Graphene to fulfil its potential low cost production needs to be realized. Cost of production is falling dramatically as techniques improve. In 2008, it was es- timated that it would cost $100M to produce a square centimetre. In 2012, price estimates ranged from $200K a square centimetre for ultra-high qual- ity material, to $20 for a lower quality sample of the same size. It is predicted that successful commercialization of graphene requires a price of $10/g for high quality and pure Graphene in large sheets. The major hurdle in manufacturing Graphene on an industrial scale is process complexity and the associated high cost of its production, which results in an expensive product. Production costs vary depending upon the cost of chemical consumables and process complexity.
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DISPERSION: Dispersion is key to commercialisation as homogeneous dispersion enhances properties and that adds value. The key to this is the ability to properly surface engineer graphene nanomaterials so that they can covalently bond with the target matrix in a way that ensures homogeneous dispersion. Dispersion is key to delivering excellent conductivity, thermal heat transfer, barrier films that out-perform current offerings, a workable transparent con ductive film,conductive inks etc.
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INTEGRATION: The challenges of integrating Graphene into products must be met. Development of practical techniques to integrate Graphene, likely through mixing or dispersing, with other industrial materials is crucial. The adaptability of graphene and its compounds to end user production processes and the ability of Graphene producers to explain the value of Graphene to all the industrial and manufacturing players in the products’ supply chain is also important. Graphene is likely to enter the supply chain as either a compound – Graphene integrated with another material – or as a component – for example, a Graphene layer in a semi- conductor structure.
Contributors: Haydale, Vorbeck Materials, NanoXplore.
