Graphene CVD sheets - updates and market status

There are various methods to produce graphene materials, such as mechanical exfoliation of graphite, liquid-phase exfoliation and reduction of graphene oxide (GO), each with its own set of advantages and disadvantages. Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is a method of producing graphene that has attracted much attention in the last decade and despite several shortcomings, is considered a leading approach to manufacture graphene, especially for applications like high-performance electronics and sensors, as it can yield high quality graphene sheets with a low defect count and good uniformity.

The CVD process

Generally speaking, the CVD method is based on gaseous reactants that are deposited on a substrate. The graphene is grown on a metallic surface like Cu, Pt or Ir, after which it can be separated from the metal and transferred to specifically-required substrates. When the gases contact the substrate inside the heated reaction chamber, a reaction occurs that creates a film of material on the substrate. The process can be simply explained as carbon-bearing gases that react at high temperatures (900–1100 °C) in the presence of a metal catalyst, which serves both as a catalyst for the decomposition of the carbon species and as a surface for the nucleation of the graphene lattice.

As was mentioned before, conditions like temperature, pressure, duration of time and many more can have a significant influence on the process and so must be carefully monitored.

Advantages and disadvantages

CVD can yield high quality graphene, with common characteristics that may include high homogeneity, imperviousness, high purity, fine grains, good control over layer number and more. However, CVD also comes with several disadvantages - namely a relatively high price of the equipment, toxic gaseous by-products and, as stated before, it is a rather sensitive process that is easily influenced by parameter changes. It is important to note that while CVD is a rather expensive method compared to other methods to produce lower-quality graphene, it is still probably the best way (to date) to acquire high quality graphene, since other ways to do that are even more expensive or complicated.

In addition, the separation (or exfoliation) of graphene from the substrate is known as challenging and it is tricky to accomplish without damaging the structure of the graphene or affecting the properties of the material. Another harrowing task is the creation of a uniform layer of graphene on a substrate, something that is continuously proving to not be easy at all.

Some approaches were and are still being developed to overcome this issue, like modifying the concentration of gases and incorporating spin coating methods, but this remains a challenge. However, despite these challenges, it is important to note that CVD is widely considered as an important and promising method to produce graphene, which is already in use, and will probably be even more so in the future, once further advancements are made. It is noteworthy that CVD is already a dominant manufacturing route for many other nanomaterials, and will assumably be in extremely common use once progress is made to resolve the issues that are currently hindering its acceptance.

Market status

While using the CVD method to produce graphene is definitely one the leading approaches in the world, it is still hindered by the challenges mentioned above. Thus, it is currently mostly limited to relatively small volumes and mainly restricted to R&D and academic uses.

However, graphene sheets produced via CVD methods are used in several applications like sensors, touch screens and heating elements. It is believed that once better answers are found to the questions of price and handling of CVD graphene, many more applications will start to appear.

Looking to buy CVD graphene sheets?

If you are interested in buying CVD graphene sheets, check out the Graphene Catalog that lists various CVD produced graphene sheets from several producers.

The latest CVD graphene news:

GrapheneDx, General Graphene Corp and Sapphiros announce strategic partnership to industrialize graphene-based biosensors

GrapheneDX, General Graphene Corporation and Sapphiros have announce a strategic partnership to industrialize graphene-based biosensors for medical devices used to diagnose a variety of diseases at the point-of-care and in consumer settings.

GrapheneDx is an in vitro diagnostics company focused on improving diagnostic capability at the point-of-care and in consumer settings. The company is an expert in functionalizing graphene to create graphene field effect transistors (GFETs), which are biosensors that can be used to detect disease in biological samples. GrapheneDx's medical devices are designed to provide lab-quality accuracy, deliver results in less than 5 minutes and be simple enough to be performed both at the point of care and by patients without the supervision of a medical professional. The company's GFET platform is versatile, demonstrating performance across a variety of disease states (sexually transmitted infections, respiratory disease, cardiac disease, concussion and others) and sample types (stool, urine, swabs, blood, etc.), with little or no sample preparation. Additionally, the platform is capable of multiplexing numerous analytes concurrently with a single patient sample. GrapheneDx's first tests will be for the diagnosis of sexually transmitted infections, including Chlamydia and Gonorrhea, using a noninvasive, easy to collect urine sample.

Read the full story Posted: Jun 06,2023

Graphene-Info launches a new version of its CVD Graphene Market Report

Today we published a new edition of our CVD Graphene Market Report, with all the latest information on this exciting material and market. The CVD graphene market is slowly emerging as applications and projects are growing fast, giving high hopes for the future market of high-end graphene nanomaterials.

 

Reading this report, you'll learn all about:

  • How does CVD graphene differ from other graphene types
  • CVD graphene properties
  • Possible applications for CVD graphene
  • Available materials on the market

The report package also provides:

  • A list of prominent CVD graphene research activities
  • A list of all CVD graphene developers and their products
  • Datasheets and brochures from over 10 different CVD graphene makers
  • Free updates for a year

This CVD Graphene market report provides a great introduction to CVD graphene materials and applications, and covers everything you need to know about graphene produced by CVD. This is a great guide for anyone interested in applying CVD graphene in their products, or learning more about this promising new technology.

Read the full story Posted: May 11,2023

Researchers develop method for optimizing both the growth and the transfer process of graphene

A team of researchers from the University of Cambridge, RWTH Aachen University and the National Institute for Materials Science in Japan has developed a methodology for simultaneously optimizing the growth and the transfer process of graphene, showing that it is possible to dry-transfer graphene with high-yield, if the crystallographic orientation of the growth surface is chosen appropriately.

Graphene often needs to be transferred from the growth substrate (typically copper) to a final substrate where components can be built. However, current transfer approaches either lead to a substantial degradation of the crystal quality or are not compatible with high-volume manufacturing. Moreover, while graphene has great potential for next generation electronics, the gap between the performance of “hero devices” realized in research labs and what can be reproducibly fabricated with scalable approaches remains large. This is why high-end electronic devices enabled by graphene are still not on the market – and why scalability is such a challenge in terms of making the most of this nanomaterial.

Read the full story Posted: Mar 14,2023

PlanarTECH on its way to its best year ever, gets ready for its second crowdfunding round

UK-based PlanarTECH offers R&D and production-scale equipment and services for all classes of emerging 2D materials and carbon-based materials such as CNTs and CVD diamonds. In 2020 planarTECH launched a successful equity crowdfunding campaign as it aims to expand its business and enter new markets such as industrial CVD graphene production systems and material production.

We have recently talked to the company's CEO, J. Patrick Frantz, who gives us the latest business and technology updates from PlanarTECH.

Q: Can you update us on your latest business activities, with a focus on graphene?

We had a very difficult time during the pandemic, as many companies did. From July 2020 through June 2021 we shipped just one CVD system. However, we started to see a resumption of customer activity towards the end of 2021 as labs reopened and people around the world got back to work. For 2022, we’re seeing a complete recovery and are on our way to the best year we’ve ever had in terms of sales.

Read the full story Posted: Dec 07,2022

Graphene-Info updates its CVD Graphene Market Report

Today we published a new edition of our CVD Graphene Market Report, with all the latest information on this exciting material and market. The CVD graphene market is slowly emerging as applications and projects are growing fast.

Reading this report, you'll learn all about:

  • How does CVD graphene differ from other graphene types
  • CVD graphene properties
  • Possible applications for CVD graphene
  • Available materials on the market

The report package also provides:

  • A list of prominent CVD graphene research activities
  • A list of all CVD graphene developers and their products
  • Datasheets and brochures from over 10 different CVD graphene makers
  • Free updates for a year

This CVD Graphene market report provides a great introduction to CVD graphene materials and applications, and covers everything you need to know about graphene produced by CVD. This is a great guide for anyone interested in applying CVD graphene in their products, or learning more about this promising new technology.

Read the full story Posted: Nov 24,2022

Researchers use graphene nanobuds as a novel anode material for lithium ion batteries

Researchers from Tecnologico Nacional de México, McGill University and Centro de Investigacion en Materiales Avanzados S.C. have examined the use of Graphene nanobuds (GNBs), formed on copper (Cu) foil via chemical vapor deposition, as an anode in lithium-ion batteries.

Graphene Nanobuds as LIB anode material image

Producing high-performance anode materials that possess excellent specific capacities and extended cyclic ability is currently one of the key development areas in lithium-ion batteries. The energy storage capacity of lithium-ion batteries heavily depends on the anode materials used and their structure. Carbonaceous substances remain the anode materials of choice because of the strong attraction between lithium (Li) and graphitic carbon. Graphene possesses a large capacity to accommodate lithium ions in its framework because of its significant surface area and excellent electrical conductivity.

Read the full story Posted: Jul 16,2022

Graphene-Info updates all its graphene market report

Today we published new versions of all our graphene market reports. Graphene-Info provides comprehensive niche graphene market reports, and our reports cover everything you need to know about these niche markets. The reports are now updated to April 2022.

Graphene batteries market report 3D cover

The Graphene Batteries Market Report:

  • The advantages using graphene batteries
  • The different ways graphene can be used in batteries
  • Various types of graphene materials
  • What's on the market today
  • Detailed specifications of some graphene-enhanced anode material
  • Personal contact details into most graphene developers

The report package provides a good introduction to the graphene battery - present and future. It includes a list of all graphene companies involved with batteries and gives detailed specifications of some graphene-enhanced anode materials and contact details into most graphene developers. Read more here!

Read the full story Posted: Apr 04,2022

Researchers design method to produce single-crystal graphene sheets on large-scale electrically insulating supports

Researchers from KAUST, Lanzhou University, Xiamen University, Friedrich Schiller University Jena and Ulsan have presented a method to produce single-crystal graphene sheets on large-scale electrically insulating supports. This approach could promote the development of next-generation nanomaterial-based devices, such as light and thin touchscreens, wearable electronics and solar cells.

Most graphene-based electronic devices require insulating supports. Yet, high-quality graphene films destined for industrial use are typically grown on a metal substrate, such as copper foil, before being transferred to an insulating support for device fabrication. This transfer step can introduce impurities that affect how well the device performs. Efforts to grow graphene on insulating supports have thus not been successful in producing the required high-quality single crystals.

Read the full story Posted: Apr 03,2022