solving the graphene scale-up problem
TRANSCRIPT
Solving the Graphene
Scale-Up ProblemDr Stephen Hodge
Principal Engineer
Tomorrow’s 2D materials,
available today
Nanene™
Graphene HP
Graphene Oxide & Reduced GO
Graphene ink
h-Boron Nitride-
Group Structure
What is Graphene?
GRAPHENE
A.K.Geim, K.S.Novoselov
Nobel prize in Physics 2010
BUCKMINSTERFULLERENENobel prize in Chemistry 1996
CARBON NANOTUBESIIJIMA, 1991
GRAPHITE
sp2 hybridization
Boron Nitride
A.K.Geim, K.S.Novoselov
Nobel prize in Physics 2010
Credit: 3M Technical Ceramics
Excellent chemical
stability
High mechanical
strength
Excellent thermal
stability and thermal
conductivity
Wide band gap material
– effective insulator or
dielectric material
UV light absorption
• Nanene™
• Graphene HP
• Graphene Oxide & Reduced GO (RGO)
• Graphene ink
• h-Boron Nitride-(Hexotene™) -
…available today
Tomorrow’s 2D materials…
What are the major barriers to market development?
• Cost of production / material
• Production Scale
• Production Quality
• Lack of Applications / End-user demand
• Production Processes
• Competing Existing Materials
• Lack of Standards / Characterization
• Health, Safety, Environmental Regulations
Graphene demand
Potential Industrial Applications
Mechanical enhancement
– thermosets & thermoplastic composites
Filtration
– water purification
Barrier
– moisture, gas etc.
Electrical energy storage
– batteries, supercapacitors
Thermal conductivity enhancement
– heat dissipation
Electrical conductivity
– printed electronics
Aerospace - CFRP
● Aerospace Market ~44,000 tonnes of CFRP in 2020*
● Graphene can reduce weight of CFRP and improve other
properties eg. thermal and electrical conductivity
● Reduced weight = big fuel savings
● If 10% of Aerospace CFRP requires graphene at 1%
graphene / kg CFRP, requirement is 44 tonnes of
graphene / year
*Reinforced Plastics Nov/Dec 2014
Automotive Tyres
● 6.4M tonnes of synthetic rubber is put into tyres every year*
● Graphene is reported to reduce tyre wear rate
● Fewer Primary Micro Plastics are created = significant
environmental benefit
● If 10% of tyres use graphene at a 1% loading, requirement
is 6,400 tonnes of graphene / year
*IUCN – Primary Micro Plastics in the Oceans
The prediction for 2020 is that 36M tonnes of plastics will
be used in automobiles every year*
There will be a very substantial global graphene
requirement for the automobile industry once
improvements are demonstrated
* Plastics Today
Automotive Plastics Demand
Scaling Up Production
Powders
Lab scale production
● When Versarien bought 2D-Tech, production of 4g of
Graphene took 90 hours
● That is ~1g per day
Part Processed material 1g
Small Scale Production
● Versarien have scaled up the process to produce much
larger quantities whilst maintaining the same quality
● For the last year, Versarien has had the capability to
produce 100g / day
Part Processed material 100g
Initial Commercial Production
● Versarien now has proven the technology to produce 1kg
of Nanene grade material per day
● The proven process is in the final stages of set-up for
production
● In 2 years, production has increased 1000 fold
Part Processed
material 1kg
Full Commercial Production
● Tonnes of graphene are required every day
● Requires a further 1000 fold increase in volume
● Plans are in place to:
> install larger machines capable of producing tens of kg/day
> use multiple machines to meet higher demand
Inks
Graphene Ink Scale Up
● Versarien also produce Graphene Ink which can be used
in printed electronics
● Trials were recently conducted to demonstrate that
production can go from 1 litre per day to 40 litres per day
● This will meet commercial demand for graphene ink
Graphene Ink Scale Up
Graphite + Solvent
(or water/surfactant)Energy olvent
+ Energy
Graphene Dispersion
Microfluidic Processing
ACS Nano, 2017, 11 (3), pp 2742–2755
Graphene Ink by Microfluidic Processing
Scalable 100% Yield Production of
Conductive Graphene Inks
Scalability
LAB SCALE:
Flow Rate: 100mL/min
Graphene flakes: 6.5 g/h
PRODUCTION SCALE:
Flow rates up to 12 L/min
Graphene Flakes 720 g/h
= 6.5 tonnes/yr or 65k ink p.a.
Conductive inks for printed electronics
Conductivity
(S/m)
Sheet Resistance
(Ω/ @ 25μm)
Applications
Electrodes in OPVs, OLEDs <10 Ω/
RF-ID antennas <5 Ω/
Problems with metal inks
Electromigration
Cost
Oxidation
Toxicity
Sheet Resistance
σ is the conductivity
h is the film thickness𝑅𝑠=
1
𝜎ℎ
Graphene 2x104 2
Silver, Copper 106-107 0.01
Graphite 4x102 - 4x103 100-10
Graphene Ink – Potential Applications
Case study
Graphene-
Carbon Fibre
Reinforced
Plastic body
3D-printed
Graphene ABS
Aerodynamic
components
Performance testing ongoing
Contact us…
Dr Stephen Hodge
T: +44 (0)1223762388
nanene.com
2-dtech.com
cambridgegraphene.com