ZEN Graphene Solutions has announced that Evercloak and ZEN have been awarded CAD$125,000 (around USD$92,000) each as part of a Next Generation Manufacturing Canada (NGen) Project.
The project entitled Advancing Large-Scale Graphene and Thin-Film Membrane Manufacturing will support the scale up of graphene oxide (GO) production by ZEN to supply GO to Evercloak for their scale up and optimizing activities. NGen supports collaborative technology projects that enable the development of world-leading advanced manufacturing capabilities in Canada.
Francis Dubé, ZEN CEO commented, ZEN is pleased to support Canadian graphene-based innovations and Evercloak is a wonderful example of what can be achieved with nanomaterials and Canadian entrepreneurship. NGen supports the accelerated development of high potential technologies such as our graphene collaboration. We look forward to helping Evercloak bring breakthrough technology to everyday life.
Evelyn Allen, Evercloak CEO stated, Evercloak is thrilled to be working closely with ZEN to advance graphene-based manufacturing processes in Canada. The NGen Project funding will enable Evercloak to further optimize our membrane manufacturing process, while strengthening collaborations with ZEN, a Canadian graphene technology solutions company.
Graphene has long promised to deliver immense benefits across a diverse range of technology applications. This collaborative project between ZEN and Evercloak will fundamentally transform the manufacturing of graphene thin films and will bring forward environmentally friendly solutions in strategic clean technology areas including energy efficiency separation processes, batteries and solar cells to generate sustainable solutions for Canadians. John Laughlin, CTO, NGen.
Evercloak’s patent-pending HydroAM printer is capable of depositing both 1D and 2D nanomaterials and transferring these ultra-thin films onto flexible substrates with a controlled density for various applications ranging from transparent conductors for flexible electronics to more efficient membranes for industrial separations. Through this grant, and in collaboration with Evercloak, ZEN will optimize and scale-up the electrochemical exfoliation (ECE) process that was developed by Prof. Aicheng Chen and his team at the University of Guelph to produce graphene oxide from its unique precursor Albany Pure Graphite. The ECE process was designed to be scalable, low cost, low energy, and environmentally friendly to produce high quality, few-layer graphene oxide at ZEN’s Guelph facility.
Evercloak is an innovative cleantech company, commercializing a manufacturing platform for producing continuous, large-area, monolayers of exfoliated 2D nanomaterials, including graphene, graphene oxide, molybdenum disulfide, and carbon nanotubes. These films are increasingly used for a wide range of applications such as energy storage, smart packaging, electronic devices, corrosion inhibitors, and membranes. Evercloak’s initial focus is on manufacturing graphene-based membranes for dehumidification to significantly reduce the energy use and associated greenhouse gas related with building cooling.