Grapherry has entered a collaboration with the University of Illinois Chicago to advance scalable graphene manufacturing for industry.
A key part of this partnership revolves around testing the quality of the graphene produced at Grapherry for application-specific properties such as electrical conductivity and structural characteristics. The goal is to work together to accelerate materials validation, application development, and pathways to industrial deployment across sectors such as energy storage, construction, agriculture, and advanced composites.
“UIC is an important part of Chicago’s startup ecosystem,” said Vikas Berry, founder of Grapherry. “Collaborations between faculty-founded startups and the university help strengthen Chicago’s innovation ecosystem and provide students with industry-relevant experience.”
In October 2025, Grapherry was selected as one of seven startups from more than 300 applicants for the Sustainable Water Tech Accelerator cohort at mHub, a leading hard-tech and manufacturing innovation center in Chicago. This cohort is co-sponsored by Current, a nonprofit water innovation hub and the lead organization of the National Science Foundation’s Great Lakes RENEW Engine.
“Mentorship received from the cohort activities has strengthened our scale-up approach and helped us form partnerships critical to industrializing graphene,” Berry said. “Our work focuses on converting carbon-rich waste into high-performance materials, while reducing environmental impact and enabling scalable manufacturing.”
Along with their many industrial partnerships in the realms of batteries and cement research, Grapherry is evaluating the potential of graphene to improve performance metrics such as electrical conductivity, durability, and performance efficiency.
Grapherry is currently conducting three pilot projects with customers: one with a construction company and two with battery electrode companies. The company is working with partners, including Argonne National Laboratory, to study how graphene enhances battery performance, cement/asphalt’s strength, and conductivity in polymer composites.
“Our main goal is to work closely with industry partners to understand critical needs and pathways for incorporation of graphene into commercial products,” said Roshan Nemade, UIC Chemical Engineering Department visiting research assistant professor and Grapherry CTO. “We are now working on scaling up the process.”
