Is graphene starting to live up to its hype?

Summary

The script explores the potential and progress of graphene, a material 200 times stronger than steel and more conductive than silicon, discovered in 2004. Despite early promises of revolutionizing technology, practical applications have been slow. However, companies like Paragraf are now mass-producing graphene-based electronics, including magnetic field sensors and biosensors, which could transform fields like medicine and computing. The script also delves into graphene's energy efficiency and its role in advancing sustainable technologies.

Takeaways

• 🌟 Graphene is a highly sensitive material that is 30 times more sensitive than silicon and consumes a thousand times less energy, making it a promising material for future technologies.
• 🚀 The potential of graphene was first recognized in 2004, and it has been heralded as a 'super material' with the capacity to revolutionize various industries.
• 🔬 Graphene was isolated by Professor Sir Andre Geim and Professor Sir Constantine Novoselov at the University of Manchester using a simple 'sticky tape' method.
• 💡 Graphene's unique properties include being a single atom thick, extremely strong, transparent, an excellent electrical and thermal conductor, and flexible.
• 🛠️ The challenge for using graphene in electronics was its production in large, device-quality pieces, which was overcome by Professor Humph's research group at Cambridge.
• 🏭 The company 'Paragraf' is one of the pioneers in mass-producing graphene-based electronic devices, utilizing the material's mechanical properties in various applications.
• 🌐 The Hall effect sensor is one of the first electronic devices being produced by Paragraf, which is highly sensitive and energy-efficient due to graphene's properties.
• 🛡️ Graphene's applications extend beyond electronics, with its integration into concrete, running shoes, and tennis rackets to enhance their performance.
• 🔬 Research is ongoing to develop graphene biosensors that could rapidly detect viruses and bacteria, potentially saving lives by reducing diagnosis times from days to minutes.
• 🌿 Graphene and other 2D materials are being explored for their potential in sustainable applications, such as improving battery life in electric vehicles and energy storage.
• 🌐 The future of graphene involves not only its standalone applications but also the development of other 2D materials that may offer even better performance for specific uses.

Q & A

What is Graphene and why is it considered a 'super material'?

Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal honeycomb lattice. It is known as a 'super material' due to its exceptional properties such as being extremely strong, transparent, the best electrical conductor in the world, a very good thermal conductor, and flexible.

How was Graphene first isolated?

Graphene was first isolated in 2004 by scientists Professor Sir Andre Geim and Professor Sir Constantine Novoselov at the University of Manchester using a method known as the 'sticky tape' method.

What are the unique properties of Graphene that make it suitable for electronics?

Graphene's unique properties for electronics include its high sensitivity to magnetic fields, which allows for precise measurements, and its single layer of atoms which means it doesn't experience any through-thickness effects, providing cleaner measurements. Additionally, Graphene devices can consume much less power, making them energy-efficient.

What challenges did researchers face in utilizing Graphene in electronic devices?

One of the main challenges was the difficulty in handling and assembling Graphene due to its transparency and thinness. Additionally, the production of device-quality Graphene in large diameters was not feasible, limiting its application in electronics.

What is the Hall Effect and how is it used in Graphene-based sensors?

The Hall Effect is a phenomenon where a magnetic field, applied perpendicular to an electric current in a conductor, creates a voltage difference transverse to the current flow. In Graphene-based sensors, this effect is used to measure magnetic fields by detecting the potential difference caused by the deflection of charge carriers within the Graphene layer.

What are the potential applications of Graphene-based magnetic field sensors?

Graphene-based magnetic field sensors can be used in various applications such as detecting simple magnetic fields for door monitoring, identifying defects in electric car batteries to prevent fires, and mapping precise magnetic fields for medical applications or high-level physics research.

How does Graphene consumption of energy compare to Silicon in transistors?

Graphene transistors are reported to be 30 times more sensitive than silicon but consume a thousand times less energy, making them extremely energy-efficient.

What is a biosensor and how is Graphene used in its development?

A biosensor is a device that detects the presence of biological molecules or organisms like viruses and bacteria. Graphene is used in the development of biosensors due to its fast response and ability to provide rapid results. It is believed that Graphene biosensors could detect sepsis in a significantly shorter time than traditional methods.

What are the benefits of using Graphene in batteries?

Graphene in batteries can increase storage capacity, allow for higher power output without increasing resistive losses, and help reduce short circuits and dendrite growth, which are significant safety hazards in lithium batteries.

What is the significance of the Graphene Engineering Innovation Center (The GEIC) and its role in industry?

The GEIC is significant as it focuses on industrial applications of Graphene and other 2D materials. It works with industry to ease the adoption of these materials by focusing on proof of concept to prototype development, working with the supply chain and regulators to ensure compliance and safety.

How is Graphene being incorporated into the construction industry?

Graphene is being used in the construction industry to create lighter and stronger materials. It is being incorporated into concrete, consumer products like plastic bottles, and in the automotive and aerospace industries. Its multi-functional aspects can reduce the overall mass of construction, enhancing thermal resistance, and improving sustainability.

Outlines

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Keywords

💡Graphene

Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a two-dimensional honeycomb lattice. It is known for its exceptional properties such as strength, transparency, electrical and thermal conductivity, and flexibility. In the video, graphene is highlighted as a 'super material' with the potential to revolutionize various industries due to its unique properties, such as being 30 times more sensitive than silicon while consuming a thousand times less energy.

💡Transistors

Transistors are semiconductor devices used to amplify or switch electronic signals and electrical power. They are fundamental components in modern electronic devices. The script discusses the promise of faster transistors made from graphene, which could lead to faster computers and mobile phones with better energy consumption, although this has not yet fully materialized.

💡Hall Effect

The Hall effect is the production of a voltage difference across an electrical conductor, transverse to an electric current in the conductor and a magnetic field perpendicular to the current. The video describes how paragraph, a company, is producing a magnetic field sensor based on the Hall effect using graphene, which is sensitive and can precisely measure magnetic fields with less power consumption.

💡Energy Efficiency

Energy efficiency refers to the ratio of useful work output to the energy input. In the context of the video, graphene-based devices, such as magnetic sensors, are emphasized for their energy efficiency, being 30 times more sensitive than silicon but consuming a thousand times less energy, which is crucial for sustainable technology development.

💡2D Materials

2D materials are materials that are only an atom or a few atoms thick, with graphene being the first and most well-known example. The script mentions other 2D materials like boron nitride, phosphorene, goldine, and pluming, each with unique properties. These materials are part of a broader transformation in material science with potential applications in electronics, energy, and more.

💡Mass Production

Mass production refers to the production of large quantities of goods to be sold on a mass market. The video discusses the challenges and advancements in the mass production of graphene, highlighting the establishment of companies like paragraph that are among the first to manufacture graphene-based electronic devices on a large scale.

💡Biosensors

Biosensors are devices that combine a biological component with a physicochemical detector to identify and measure a target entity. The script mentions the development of graphene biosensors that can rapidly detect viruses and bacteria, potentially revolutionizing fields like medicine and healthcare by reducing diagnosis times from days to minutes.

💡Scalability

Scalability is the ability of a system, network, or process to handle a growing amount of work, or its potential to be enlarged to accommodate that growth. The video addresses the obstacle of scalability in graphene production and how advancements have made it possible to produce graphene in larger quantities, which is essential for its widespread application in various industries.

💡National Graphene Institute

The National Graphene Institute, mentioned in the script, is a research center dedicated to the study and application of graphene and 2D materials. It represents a significant investment in graphene research and development, indicating the material's importance and potential impact on future technologies.

💡Revolutionize

To revolutionize means to make a drastic and sweeping change in the way something operates or functions. The script repeatedly refers to the potential of graphene and 2D materials to revolutionize various fields, including electronics, medicine, energy, and construction, by offering unprecedented properties and capabilities.

💡Regulatory Compliance

Regulatory compliance refers to the adherence to rules, regulations, and laws governing an industry or activity. The video discusses the importance of regulatory compliance in ensuring that new materials like graphene are safe for use and meet industry standards before they can be widely adopted in various applications.

Highlights

Graphene is 30 times more sensitive than silicon and consumes a thousand times less energy.

Graphene was discovered in 2004 and has the potential to revolutionize various industries.

The co-founder of a company called Paragraph is exploiting graphene's mechanical properties in various products.

Graphene's promise of faster transistors and better energy consumption in electronics has not yet been fully realized.

Graphene was first isolated by Professor Sir Andre Geim and Professor Sir Constantine Novoselov using the 'sticky tape method'.

Graphene is a single-atom-thick, two-dimensional material with exceptional properties such as strength, transparency, and conductivity.

A major challenge for using graphene in electronics was the difficulty of handling and assembling the transparent and thin material.

Professor Humph and his team developed a new method for making large-area graphene, leading to the creation of the first Hall effect center.

Paragraph is one of the first companies to mass-produce graphene-based electronic devices.

The process of making graphene involves injecting gases containing carbon into a chamber and depositing it on a heated substrate.

Graphene's ability to grow directly on the chosen substrate helps maintain its purity and integrity.

The first electronic device produced by Paragraph is a magnetic field sensor utilizing the Hall effect.

Graphene sensors are highly sensitive and can be used in a variety of applications, including detecting magnetic fields for safety or mapping.

Graphene's properties make it ideal for energy-efficient devices, with potential applications in MRI scanners and quantum computers.

Paragraph is also developing a graphene biosensor that could rapidly detect viruses and bacteria, potentially saving lives.

Graphene's benefits in sensor technology include enhanced sensitivity, low power consumption, and the ability to operate at low temperatures.

The future of graphene involves exploring other two-dimensional materials that may offer even better performance for specific applications.

The Graphene Engineering Innovation Center (The GEIC) focuses on industrial applications and the transition from concept to prototype.

Graphene's potential in the construction industry includes improving thermal efficiency and reducing the overall mass of construction materials.

The GEIC offers facilities to scale up and test products at larger sizes, working with industry to ease the adoption of graphene.

Graphene's role in sustainability includes its use in better battery life, potentially solving range anxiety in electric vehicles.

The development of graphene semiconductors has the potential to make computers significantly faster and more energy-efficient.

The future of graphene and 2D materials is expected to bring about a transformation in various industries, with many exciting developments ahead.

Transcripts

that graphine is 30 times more sensitive

than silicon but they consume a thousand

times less

energy technology is advancing at an

exponential rate with new breakthroughs

and Innovations all the time but it's

not everyday a new material comes along

with the potential to create a huge

difference when graphine was first

discovered in 2004 we were told the

so-called super material would change

the world but fast forward to the

present day and has the revolution

happened yet well I've come to a lab

near Cambridge one of the world's first

companies mass-producing graphine based

Electronics deceive

myself Professor sollin humph is the

co-founder and chief scientific officer

of paragraph a company designed around

graphine its mechanical properties are

being exploited ated and so it's being

added to concrete and meant to make it

stronger to TX in row to running shoes

to tennis rackets to a lot of products

like this and it has made inros into

these other areas but the real promise

of faster transistors just hasn't

happened and faster computers and and

faster mobile phones uh better energy

consumption none of these had happened

uh until we got

involved graphine was first isolated in

20 04 by scientists Professor sir Andre

gim and Professor sir Constantine

novoselov at the University of

Manchester during a chance Friday

afternoon experiment using the so-called

sticky tape

method carbon comes in many forms called

allotropes the most well-known being

diamond and

graphite in a diamond each carbon atom

is connected to four other carbon atoms

it's this extremely strong Arrangement

that makes Diamond one of the hardest

know

materials in graphite each atom is

linked to three others in layers of

hexagonal shapes the bonds within the

hexagonal sheets are strong but each

layer is only weakly attracted to the

next which allows the layers to slip by

one

another if you peel away layers of

graphite you end up with a monolayer

honeycomb lattice of graphine which is a

single atom thick which is why it's

known as a two-dimensional

material it's very strong it's

transparent um it's the best electrical

conductor in the world it's a very good

thermal conductor it's flexible and all

these properties are in a single

material and so people are really

excited about

it but there was a problem to overcome

before graphine could be used in

electronics in 2015 Professor humph was

working on another material in Cambridge

when a PhD student asked to focus on

graphine I give her a piece of Gallum

nitride and I send her up to Manchester

uh to meet the Nobel Prize winner there

and he gives her a little plastic box

and he says inside this box there's a

piece of graphine and what I want you to

do he said is to make a transistor By

Hand by putting this graphine on top of

the gum nitrate and push some contacts

on and she looks in the box and she says

there's nothing there right and he said

that's because it's transparent right

and she spends a month trying to find

this thing by Fe as it were with

tweezers and then and then you know

assemble by hand and she cannot do it

and so I then get on the phone to cost

noos off this Nobel Prize winner and I

say cost I Supply some gum nitr which is

2 in in diameter please can you supply a

piece of graphine which is 2 in in

diameter because even though it's

transparent you know there's a chance

she can assemble a transistor by hand

and he Roars with laughter and I say

Costa this other on the end of the phone

I say Costa why are you laughing and he

said because device quality graphine 2

in in diameter doesn't exist anywhere in

the world and because I hadn't worked in

graphine before I didn't know that and

he said there's just the tiny

flakes so Professor Humphrey set his

research group a task to find a new way

of making graphine and then one of my

senior postdocs who's now the CEO of

this company um paragraph uh he came to

me uh after about a month and he said

Colin I've had an idea of a new way of

making graphine and we made this large

area graphine and then we made the first

prototype what's called a h effect

Center which paragraph is in

manufacturing but uh you know for very

little money and I happen to have the

right equipment and the right people at

the right time and we did this work

the two postdocs were Simon Thomas now

the CEO of paragraph and Iva gy the

group's technical director paragraph is

one of the world's first companies to

mass-produce graphine based electronic

devices oh wow this is an impressive bit

of Kit what's happening here so we're

just unloading the graphine samples here

so each of those 2in Wafers has a single

monol layer of graphine on it and this

is how it looks and it as deposited form

that's the graphine in each wafer each

on each substrate yeah there are 31

wafers in here and um you can get over a

thousand devices easily on a 2-in wafer

like this so we're talking High numbers

some of our reactors will be used for

kind of high throughput high uniformity

more production grade things and some of

them will be used more for research and

development so looking at smaller

quantities of devices um and tailoring

them to new applications and what's the

process how dides that happen here we

can see the fresh substrates being

loaded in ready to be deposited with the

graphine so they'll be loaded into here

and then um it will be closed down and

once it's closed down there'll be a

series of uh conditions that are needed

for the process to take place so

basically some chemical precursors will

um enter the environment with the

substrates and the reactions that go on

in there is what leads to the graphine

being

deposited the exact process is a secret

but it works something like this a

variety of gases containing carbon are

injected into a chamber the gases mix

when they hit a substrate which has been

heated to over 1,000°

C hydrogen is released and the carbon

atoms skate around until they find each

other and Link in a honeycomb array

leaving a layer of high Purity graphine

on the

wafer what makes this method unique when

you grow directly on your chosen

substrate instead of on something else

and then transferring the graphine later

you can keep that graphine more intact

and more protected and less contaminated

by the different processing steps that

you would need to move it around being

able to grow on larger and larger areas

of substrate will enable us to scale up

and make millions of devices at a

time the first electronic device

paragraph is producing is a magnetic

field sensor which works on what's known

as the hall effect so here you can you

can see an illustration of the

processing steps involved to take

graphine from its on wafer state to a

finished device that can be used in

different applications so here we can

see a wafer much like what we saw in the

reactor where there's a single layer of

carbon atoms across that whole 2-in

wafer so the graphine goes through

various stages including adding other

materials that are needed for the device

structure we need to be able to contact

to that device so that's where the

metallization step comes in and you can

see some contacts have been added there

they connect the graphine to the rest of

the system the devices are then

singulated to give individual die with

one device on each one and these are

then placed into protective packaging

and again this would all be connected

with wire bonds so that you can measure

with the device and what do the visuals

here on the screen show so this

animation here shows how the whole

effect works in our sensor so if you

imagine that red material there is the

graphine and we have a current traveling

in one direction through the material

when that goes into a magnetic field as

you can see coming in here the moving

charge carriers are all experiencing a

force that def FS them over to one side

of the material so that causes lots of

charge on one side and less charge on

the other side so we measure that

potential difference across the device

that's shown by the voltmeter moving

here and the amount of voltage that we

measure from that potential difference

depends on the field strength and the

sensitivity of our material so we can

use a device where we know the

sensitivity to work out the strength of

the magnetic field and you could move it

around or use lots of different devices

to map a field effectively how is this

being used out there in the real world

so you could use the sensor in a variety

of applications where you need to either

detect a magnetic field and that could

be something really simple like whether

a door is open or closed and you can use

that in things like electric car

batteries to work out where there are

defects and prevent fires from happing

or it could be used to map a very

precise magnetic field such as you might

need for medical applications or high

level physics research what are the

advantages of using graphine in these

devices compared to the materials that

are currently more widely used used

graphine has loads of really beneficial

properties for using in a hall sensor so

the material itself is really sensitive

to magnetic fields which means that we

get a really good strong response and we

can measure the fields very precisely

the fact that graphine is only a single

layer of atoms means that it's not

experiencing any through thickness

effects in the material so you get a

much cleaner measurement of that

magnetic field and graphing devices can

also consume much less power so in the

move towards more energy efficient

devices graphine could really play a

role with its integration

another Advantage is that it can be used

at very low temperatures which makes it

ideal for use of machines like MRI

scanners and quantum

computers once the sensor has been

assembled they're checked here and then

tested under liquid nitrogen the hall

sensors use a very small Cross of

graphine between four metal contacts as

seen here under a microscope paragraph

is also producing another type of sensor

a very exciting project being product

being made here is a biosensor graphine

biosensor is very very fast and can give

you rapid results and we believe that

you can uh distinguish between viruses

and bacteria you can distinguish other

different types of bacteria different

types of viruses so there's something

called sepsis which kills lots of people

and to detect sepes at the moment you

have to take a swab say saliva and you

culture it and you culture the bacteria

or viruses there and you then do

analysis in electron microscope and that

takes 24 to 48 hours we believe with a

graphine biosensor you could determine

that in maybe 10 or 20 minutes so it's

going to change the world it's going to

save

lives Dr Martin Tyler is quality

checking a batch of new bio sensors this

is what the Wafers look like when they

come out of our Fab we produce 32

devices on a 2in wafer that's kind of

one device there and then that's another

one so it's six rows and six columns

seven so after this it will get sent

through a cleaving process to singulate

the dies so they then get attached to a

PCB so that's a single device there uh y

bonded out these tracks and then that

whole chip and wire bonded assembly gets

coated in an epoxy main to protect the

wire bonds but with the added benefit it

also produces this kind of um cavity or

well that we can leave liquid in during

our test what are the benefits of using

graphing in this way so traditionally um

in these sort of devices you'd be using

you know 3D bulk materials um and one of

the key improvements you get from

graphing is that because it's a 2d

material it's essentially all surface

area so any changes to the surface is

really a change to the entirety of the

material so you get an enhanced

sensitivity because of

that this enhanced sensitivity allows

for faster detection than traditional

devices it's also possible to detect

more than one virus or bacteria on a

single

device research is still underway to

incorporate graphing into computers

which should make them much faster but

there is another Advantage

too it turns out that graphine is

extremely energy efficient and the uh

these magnetic sensors I was just

talking about before they're 30 times

more sensitive than silicon but they

consume a thous thousand times less

energy and so if we can make transistors

as in computers from from graphine from

other two Dimension materials then

they'll save a lot of

energy the reason graphine consumes such

a low amount of energy is due to

electricity flowing through a layer of

conduction electrons which exist above

and below its 2D layer of carbon atoms

and not inside the material itself as

would be the case in a 3D structure

and when graphing was discovered it was

the only material in the world in which

the conduction electrons moved on the

surface since then we found another set

of two-dimensional materials and

theoretically I think 5,000 are now been

found in theory and only you know a few

hundred are been made of these special

materials where the conductions just on

the surface and we expect all of those

will be low energy consumption materials

so if you look at say what's going to be

the future of paragraph and and the

future of graphing the future of

graphing is to look at other two

materials as well because for certain

sorts of transistors they may be even

better than graphing and so yeah that's

a huge prize for two-dimensional

materials and may help us save next

zero graphine was the first example of a

2d material in the real world many more

have since been discovered such as

borine Pine phosphorene goldine and

pluming which each have their own set of

unique properties and there are many

more yet to be

found 20 years since graphine was

discovered the so-called Wonder material

is slowly starting to live up to the

original hype Manchester has become the

UK's home of graphine and 2D materials

research opening the National graphine

Institute in 2015 and the graphine

engineering Innovation Center known as

The Geek in in

2018 John Whitaker is the group's

engineering director where are we and

what is the work you're doing here so

the this building is the graphine

engineering and Innovation Center uh

it's heavily focused on Industrial

applications so we're a part of the

University of Manchester we work with

our academic colleagues uh we say we're

are industry-led here so industry

dictates the work that we do in here but

we also respect a huge amount of

graphine research and 2D material

research at the University of Manchester

of which we get a constant academic feed

and this is quite important for industry

going forward so we use graphine as one

example uh isolated 20 years ago

National graphine Institute 10 years ago

has now been feeding into applications

we've set up the pipeline here at

Manchester uh to do that with other 2D

materials the reason why the graphine

engineering and innovation Center is

unique throughout uh the world is that

it focuses on that application that

proof of concept to the Prototype but

working with the supply chain and The

Regulators to ease the adoption here we

are speaking 20 years on there was much

said at the time about the potential for

this material to completely

revolutionize the way we live and work

has that happened has it lived up to the

height yes it has um in the last

certainly in the last 5 years we've been

delivering uh graphine and 2D materials

Technologies to a huge uh wide range of

industrial

applications we're now reaching the

stage where real applications and

products are starting to emerge when a

new material kind of comes along that

can add value industry has to verify the

data so it's got to be safe to use got

to be safe to employ safe to work with

and we're going through those

application processes now it's called

regulat compliance

[Music]

apart from Electronics graphine is

mostly incorporated into another

material to lighten and strengthen it

it's been used in building materials

such as concrete consumer products such

as plastic bottles and in trainers and

also in the automotive and Aerospace

Industries an estimated 40 million

products now contain graphine one of the

big obstacles in bringing it to Market

was the scalability of graphine

production

the good thing is only a small amount is

needed for most products one example of

graphine I like is 1 gr of graphine will

cover a surface area of over 2,600

square

m that's roughly the size of 10 tennis

courts you only need a very very small

amount of graphine in a system for

example like a polymer or a battery

system to have a significant effect uh

and that's what we find in applications

today the geek Focus focuses on working

with industry and has six application

Laboratories one area it's hoped

graphine can make a difference is

sustainability Dr Nikki sajani is the

energy applications manager when you

think about graphine first being

discovered back in 2004 its use in

better battery life was one of the big

properties we heard being talked about

has that really happened so this is the

biggest challenge at the moment with the

world pushing away from fossil fuels

Battery Technology has been developed

through an astonishing speed the problem

is is implementing something as graphine

which which was still not well

understood at the time was difficult now

that graphine has become a more

established material there is now a

clearer drive to get graphine materials

into Battery Technology how is graphine

actually used in these batteries a

battery is not a simple system it's a

number of components that are combined

together that have to work

synergetically to actually give the

performance of the battery what graphing

can do is it can improve performances of

each component of a battery so if you're

looking at storage capacity graphine

helps increase it you're looking at

Power delivery graphine allows for a

higher power output without increasing

the resistive losses it also helps

reduce short circuits and dite growth

which is one of the biggest dangers of

lithium batteries which can cause fires

and thermal runways so without being

specific it can help every component of

the

battery incor operating graphine into

batteries may solve one of the biggest

obstacles in the transition to Greener

modes of Transport electric vehicle

range anxiety this is the concern about

how far the vehicle can travel between

each charge one of the bigger drivers

for energy reset has being able to

achieve the ranges that you can with

internal combustion engine that 600

800,000 mile range graphing can help

push that towards that in the short term

but in the long term it will also allow

for the generation

of batteries that can achieve th plus

miles as well as the different

application Laboratories the geek offers

facilities to scale up and test products

at larger sizes so welcome to the the

geek pilot Hall this is where we take

our upscale activity so we've been to

see some of our Laboratories where we go

through the small scale to the one liter

we start to go into the more industrial

scale applications so as you can see

we've got a lot of kind of overhead

crane here a lot of what we called

company R&D how rare is it to have this

amount of space uh dedicated to getting

graphing app it is it is very rare to

have all the applications Under One Roof

so there's a a number of applications

that are in our application Laboratories

but then to have a pilot Hall this

allows us to drisk uh what we call uh

applications drisk scale if you think of

a company who then gets to a trial at 1

kg 10 kg 20 kg they have then got to

start to accelerate this into a

production the geek operates a

partnership model at different tier

levels offering companies including

small to medium Enterprises access to a

wide range of specialist resources to

help bring their products to Market one

such company is Vector homes Vector

homes is really looking at two of the

big you know challenges which our world

faces today so the climate crisis and

and housing inequality we had this kind

of shared Vision around how graphine

could be incorporated into some of these

waste stream materials to produce

something that is impacting you know you

us our generation of of of of people and

take me through the steps in which

graphing is being used in their

production of of the homes you're making

what we're particularly interested on is

looking at the elements of things like

insulation or or non-structural elements

where we can make improvements in their

efficiency particularly around their

thermal efficiency um but also looking

at ways which we can do that where we

reduce the embodied carbon that's

associated with so we're looking at the

whole life carbon of buildings so

graphine is generally found in form of a

powder or in sheets uh we don't produce

graphine so we buy graphine in from

supplies like first graphine um usually

in the form not of powder but of

something like what's called a master

batch so that would be a material like

this where it's already been loaded into

a a carrier material in this case this

is high density polyeth

um so there it is is safe I'm fine to

handle it with with with touch and it

it's not a Airborne or anything like

that um and then what we do is we then

combine that with in this case things

like postc consumer recycled plastic

combining them together with an

extrusion process and producing uh

materials in the form of pellets these

can then be formed into structures with

injection molding or further Extrusion

processes or even Ching processes as

well so we can produce a quite wide

variety of structures that all contain

that beginning Gra

2024 is a big year for Vector homes

they've just built a prototype of their

affordable and modular home which they

plan to roll out later in the year what

are the wider benefits of using graphine

for the construction industry and for

house building the critical thing for us

is one is is the multi-functional

aspects that it brings so as a general

statement what we're trying to do is

reduce the overall weight or the overall

mass of construction that's one of the

primary ways that can reduce its impact

on the environment so if we add in half

a perent to 1% of graphing interior but

can we save 20 or 30% of the overall

mass that we're we're adding whether

it's in foundations in structures in

insulation um and then you build on top

so that gives you one benefit but then

if you build on top of that that you can

then potentially enhance its thermal

resistance and so on then you get you

know this sort of multi-functional

cascade effect that that generates

multiple

benefits as well as in the construction

industry graphine shows much much

promise when it comes to membranes that

can be used for water filtration and

desalination and also Coatings which

could be used for packaging and

preventing rust many more 2D materials

have been discovered and are under

development with single element

materials such as borine Pine phosphine

and goldine but there are also 2D

materials made up of two elements J Jong

beun is CEO of nanop plexus a company

based at the geek developing the 2D

material

Maxine so we developed a material called

Maxine uh with gone from sourcing the

raw materials that are required to make

it and become the leading manufacturers

in the world at the moment and what is

it so the simplest way to explain it it

is a variation of what's people probably

commonly know as graphine so we mix in a

little B carbon based compound

material with a metallic so what we end

up getting is a powder like this that

has very close to metallic

properties the material is still in

development but potential uses include

batteries and energy applications and

for smart textiles where the metallic

properties can allow for sensory

feedback the discovery of graphine has

really um set the S of the the platform

for us to to be able to develop new Next

Generation materials and graphine is

still going to be one of that I think

it's a bit like in the kitchen where we

have the rack of spices and hes I think

it's going to be like that so every

different partners or industry members

are going to have different needs and

it's going to be choosing that specific

blend of whether that's graphine or

Maxine or blend of both that will allow

us to be able to meet the you know the

criteria the parameters that every

industry p is going to need

the UK is not alone in developing

graphine the US and China have also

invested heavily in the materials

research and China now produces the most

globally recently scientists from tianin

University made a breakthrough

developing the world's first working

graphine

semiconductor the team led by Professor

Marley with help from researchers at

Georgia Tech University found the

semiconductor about 10 times more

effective Ive than silicon when

tested 20 years on it seems the graphine

revolution is underway with many

exciting developments on the horizon but

perhaps a more accurate title is the 2D

materials transformation it's really

exciting to be working on this material

that has the power to revolutionize

electronics and to be some of the first

people to put that to use in real world

devices what does the future hold for

the work that you're doing here at

parable up and more widely how graphine

is being used well I think it is well

changing because you know bio sensors

can change the world of medicine and the

electronic devices here the the

transistors we want to make can change

our world of computer I mean it really

would make computers 2,000 times faster

but I think even more important than

that you know we could say we know on

the devices we're making here we save a

thousand times the electricity it's a

thousand times L consumption we think

the transistors of other two different

materials which we haven't yet made will

probably 100 times the lower energy

consumption that 100 times will make it

almost negligible when you use your

computer and so on so I think you know

we're really optimistic because what

we're doing here could be world changing

the huge abant

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