{"id":26499,"date":"2022-10-24T08:55:12","date_gmt":"2022-10-24T07:55:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/?p=26499"},"modified":"2022-10-25T08:00:40","modified_gmt":"2022-10-25T07:00:40","slug":"navigating-cvd-graphene-application-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/navigating-cvd-graphene-application-development\/26499\/","title":{"rendered":"Navigating the uncharted waters of CVD graphene application development"},"content":{"rendered":"

General Graphene<\/a> discusses the highly complex process of taking graphene out of the laboratory and into the real world.<\/h2>\n

Graphene \u2013 the first ever two-dimensional nanomaterial \u2013 was isolated and characterised in 2004 by Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, for which they received a Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010. It is now 2022 and graphene still hasn\u2019t found its way into the real world and several big questions still remain on everyone\u2019s mind. Graphene has amazing properties, but what is it used for? If graphene is so great, why is nobody using it in the real world? What has taken so long and what is next for graphene?<\/p>\n

Every new material or innovation goes through a cycle of inflated expectations and disillusionment, following which expectations are readjusted and it reaches a plateau of productivity. Graphene is on the cusp of entering the plateau of productivity, but the graphene industry is still shrouded with a cloud of confusion and uncertainty.<\/p>\n

One material?<\/h3>\n

To date, most of the market thinks of graphene as one material and associates it almost exclusively with the particulate form \u2013 popularly known as graphene oxide, reduced graphene oxide, or graphene nanoplatelets.<\/p>\n

After spending seven years working with graphene and successfully finding a way to mass produce it, we have learnt certain things about the material which help clarify what it is and what it is not.<\/p>\n

Graphene is a spectrum of carbon-based nanomaterials available in various atomic and physical structure configurations \u2013 the most popular forms are particulate and films.<\/p>\n

Graphene is not a one-size-fits all material and, to apply graphene across a variety of applications, the growth process must be adaptable, and several optimisation and functionalisation steps are involved depending on the end application.<\/p>\n

The most important takeaway from this is that graphene\u2019s properties depend on several factors \u2013 number of layers, defect density, substrate used, crystal size, and the use of doping agents. This means that having an adaptable process is critical to tailor graphene\u2019s properties for specific end applications. Of course, an adaptable process that is not scalable and cost effective only solves a third of the problem.<\/p>\n

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Graphene: It can do everything except leave the lab<\/h3>\n

This statement is very familiar to everyone in the graphene industry and, looking at the last two decades, graphene has unfortunately fallen into a niche bucket of technologies that we all hear and read about. They claim to be capable of revolutionary and world-changing breakthroughs but, for some reason, they do not see the light of day and never make it out into the real world.<\/p>\n

When graphene was discovered, people were quick to label it as the \u2018wonder material\u2019 and the world\u2019s strongest, thinnest, and most conductive material. These properties do exist, but only at the nanoscale and do not scale readily to human sizes. And even at the nanoscale \u2013 while still being remarkable \u2013 graphene\u2019s properties do not live up to the unreasonable level of hype that was prevalent during the previous decade.<\/p>\n

The focus was on what graphene was, and not what it could do. And really, because of this misaligned focus, people\u2019s understanding of what graphene was ultimately ended up being skewed and misguided. This is still evident in the market today. Around 90% of people who know about graphene think that it is one material and associate it exclusively with particulate \u2013 available most commonly as a black powder. In addition, almost everyone in the market thinks of graphene as a \u2018one-size-fits-all\u2019 material with properties that can be applied consistently across a wide range of applications.<\/p>\n

The world had not been exposed to nanomaterials, which meant that understanding and applying graphene\u2019s properties was a task that had a steep learning curve \u2013 made harder by the public\u2019s expectations and interpretation of graphene.<\/p>\n

The only answer to this was to build up graphene\u2019s credibility as a material and take steps to scale up on initial research efforts. This hinged on the availability of cost-effective graphene in mass volumes and at a consistent and reproducible quality.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, mass production proved to be difficult, which meant that gathering data and evidence of graphene being used in real-world applications was a tall order. This was particularly true for graphene films made using chemical vapor deposition (CVD) \u2013 the process was limited to quartz tube furnaces that were time consuming as they operated in vacuum conditions and only yielded small batch quantities of graphene.<\/p>\n

Many wrote off graphene and claimed that it would never make it out into the real world because of the mass production conundrum. The mass production odds were far bleaker for graphene films made using chemical vapour deposition, as even the Nobel Prize winners stated that it could not be done.<\/p>\n

Lab to fab<\/h3>\n

In 2017, General Graphene successfully commissioned GG 1.0 \u2013 a proof of concept that demonstrated the ability to make CVD graphene under atmospheric conditions. This was an unprecedented achievement as the CVD process had been limited to vacuum conditions \u2013 and it ignited a spark towards achieving General Graphene\u2019s goal to make scalable, adaptable, and cost-effective CVD graphene for a variety of end applications.<\/p>\n

GG 2.0 \u2013 a pilot production line \u2013 was commissioned in 2019 and demonstrated under the scaled-up conditions that making CVD graphene under atmospheric conditions was a viable path towards achieving scalable mass production of CVD graphene.<\/p>\n

GG 2.5 \u2013 an iterative design \u2013 was commissioned shortly after GG 2.0. Unfortunately, this system did not work as intended but General Graphene was able to learn a few critical lessons from it:<\/p>\n