What's new at Manchester University's GEIC? James Baker, CEO, gives us an update

In December 2018, Manchester University’s Graphene Engineering Innovation Center (GEIC) first opened, aiming to accelerate the commercial impact of graphene and help realize its potential to revolutionize many sectors.

James Baker, Manchester University

James Baker, the CEO at Graphene@Manchester (G@M) who's responsible for the development and delivery of the business strategy which includes the National Graphene Institute (NGI) and the GEIC, kindly agreed to answer a few questions we had and update us on the latest from the GEIC.

Read the full story Posted: Oct 23,2020

An interview with the CEO of graphene developer planarTECH

UK-based planarTECH has recently concluded a successful equity crowdfunding campaign, as part of Graphene-Info's Graphene Crowdfunding Arena. The company's CEO, J. Patrick Frantz, was kind enough to answer a few questions we had and give his advice for graphene companies that consider the equity crowdfunding option.

planarTECH installed system Patrick Franz

Thank you for this interview. You have recently concluded a successful graphene crowdfunding campaign. Well done. Can you summarize this experience for us?

Well, given the current situation with COVID-19, it was certainly an emotional rollercoaster ride to get through the crowdfunding. If I recall correctly, we launched the campaign in private live mode in January as the pandemic started to unfold. We stayed in private mode for a while but finally went public" in March as the crisis was reaching its most severe point in Europe.

Read the full story Posted: Jun 17,2020

Nanograf's CEO sheds light on the company's latest graphene battery materials, progress and future plans

NanoGraf Technologies is a U.S-based battery material startup formerly known as SiNode Systems, established in 2012 to commercialize a novel graphene-enhanced silicon-based anode tech for lithium-ion batteries originally conceived at Northwestern University.

Nanograf's battery technology image

In light of the rising interest in graphene-enhanced batteries, and Nanograf's advances in this field, Graphene-Info was glad to exchange a few words with Dr. Francis Wang, Nanograf's CEO, to get a better image of the company's tech and future plans. Dr. Wang has accumulated over 20 years of experience in technology innovation and commercialization in the energy storage and clean energy spaces. Prior to NanoGraf Technologies, Wang was a founder and Director of Energy Storage Center at the National Institute of Clean Energy in Beijing, China. He has held positions in some of the world's largest battery, consumer products and energy companies, including Duracell, Procter & Gamble, Gillette, Boston Scientific and the Shenhua Group.

Read the full story Posted: Jun 07,2020

The UK establishes a Graphene Innovation Group, explains how graphene assists business goals

Following a Global Business innovation Programme initiated in 2019, and a collaborative visit to the US, the UK established a new Graphene Innovation Group (UK-GIG) that puts together 15 specialists from UK companies that together share many years of experience in graphene and expertise across the entire value chain.

UK-GIG group photo, Boston

Scott Storey, a Business Innovation Advisor at Inventya and the lead coordinator at the UK-GIG, explains more about the group - "We can take an everyday industrial challenge, apply our combined graphene knowledge, engineer and manufacture an effective solution, and take that solution to national and international markets. UK-GIG is now an established cohort of 15 UK-based graphene companies, ranging from early stage through to established businesses. The UK-GIG companies are fully aware of the huge potential for graphene technology to improve materials or be used in novel ways across multiple sectors. They are seeking collaboration opportunities where they can combine their expertise to do what they do best - solve problems, design graphene applications, and help commercialize an increasingly exciting field. They aim to make the UK the best place on earth to be grafting in graphene!"

We have reached out to some of the GIG members, to find out how has graphene effected their business and products, and the effects of graphene on their materials or devices.

Read the full story Posted: Mar 19,2020

An interview with MITO Material Solutions' CEO, Haley Marie Keith

MITO Materials Solutions logo imageMITO Material Solutions, a U.S-based nano-additive solutions provider, recently received $1.1 million for product development funding from the National Science Foundation Small Business Innovation Research grant program (SBIR) and the State of Oklahoma through the Oklahoma Center for Advanced Science and Technology (OCAST) program.

MITO aims to use these funds to continue with their push to manufacture hybrid nanoadditives that enable composite manufacturers to create lighter, tougher, and more durable products for the automotive, wind energy, aerospace, and transportation industries. MITO's CEO, Haley Marie Keith, was kind enough to chat with us and answer our questions.

Read the full story Posted: Sep 08,2019

XG Sciences' CEO updates us on the company's latest graphene materials, customers and future plans

US-based graphene developer XG Sciences recently made headlines with a production expansion announcement - and an exciting deal with Ford to supply it with graphene-enhanced parts for the latest the Mustang and F-150 automobiles.

XG Sciences production site, Lansing MI

We have reached out to XGS' CEO, Philip Rose, who was kind enough to answer a few questions we had regarding the company's latest materials, plans and business.

Read the full story Posted: Dec 05,2018

An interview with Graphmatech's CFO, Björn Lindh

Sweden-based Graphmatech develops and produces novel graphene-based nanocomposite materials, under the Aros Graphene brand. The company recently secured an investment from ABB and Walerud Ventures, and the company's CFO, Bjorn Lindh, was kind enough to answer a few questions we had to him.

Björn Lindh - Graphmatech

Q: Thank you for your time Bjorn. Can you give us a short introduction to Graphmatech's Aros Graphene materials, and how it differs from other graphene materials on the market?

Graphmatech has invented the novel material, Aros Graphene that keeps most of graphene's features, while making it easy to use in large industrial scales by preventing agglomeration, which is a key challenge for the use of graphene. Aros graphene is produced in powder form and can be used as additive, as coating or even in 3D-printing. The market introduction and launch of first products, filaments and thermal paste, will be introduced to the market in 2019.

Read the full story Posted: Sep 28,2018

Abalonyx sees GO production cost reaching 22 Euro/Kg at high volumes

Norway-based Graphene Oxide developer Abalonyx says that there is a strong interest in graphene oxide (GO) solutions in the research community, across a wide range of applications. While first industrial adoption is "on the horizon", Abalonyx estimates that industry acceptance is strongly related to cost.

Graphene Oxide production cost estimate (Sep 2018, Abalonyx)

Abalonyx' current production cost is around €800 per Kg (dry weight basis) - since the Company's GO is currently used by researchers and early R&D efforts. Abalonyx estimates that as production volume goes up, the price of production could reach around 22 Euro / Kg - which will make GO applicable for areas such as concrete and asphalt. The projection is based on the company's own extrapolation of today's capacity and the effect of full-automation. The cost does not include waste handling (although Abalonyx believes that it will be able to handle that at no cost). Abalonyx is currently selling its GO at €1,300 - €4,000 per Kg depending on amount and grade (€1.3 - €4 per gram).

Read the full story Posted: Sep 24,2018

Graphene-Info interviews Ari Pinkas, co-founder of Ora Graphene Audio

Graphene has many potential applications in the audio industry, and many companies have recently released graphene-enhanced audio devices (including headphones, earphones and interconnects). Ari Pinkas, the co-founder of Ora Graphene Audio, was kind enough to answer a few questions we had for him regarding the audio industry, graphene adoption, and the company's own graphene oxide based driver technology.

Q: Hello Ari, thank you for the interview. How long has Ora been involved in graphene research?

While Ora’s graphene technology is based on 2013 research done at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, our scientists have been working with the ‘wonder material’ for over a decade. Before founding the company, Ora’s technical team worked with General Motors on applying graphene oxide to battery anodes for electric vehicles at McGill. Earlier in his career, Ora’s VP Technology, Sergii Tutashkonko, was in Nagoya, Japan, hard at work applying CVD graphene to solar cells.

Read the full story Posted: Aug 30,2018

Talking graphene standardization with NPL's Andrew J. Pollard

Dr. Andrew J. Pollard (NPL)In November 2017, after years of work, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) released its first graphene standard, the ISO/TS 80004-13:2017. The effort was led by the UK's National Physical Laboratory (NPL).

We recently discussed this interesting and important development with the NPL's Dr. Andrew J. Pollard. Dr. Andrew leads the NPL Surface and Nanoanalysis Group's research into the structural and chemical characterization of graphene and related 2D materials, and he is also a member of the ISO working group 'Measurement and Characterization' within the 'Nanotechnologies' Technical Committee (TC229), and a UK nominated expert for the international graphene standards.

Hello Andy, and thank you for this interview. We know that NPL pioneered the effort in the new ISO standard, can you tell us why do you believe such standards are of vital importance?

As a new material that has spawned an emerging industry, graphene has the potential to improve many of the products we all use every day. However, for industry around the world to be able to develop innovative products with this two-dimensional material, they need to know what the properties actually are of the materials they are using.

Read the full story Posted: May 22,2018