Graphene Turns Twenty and Celebrates by Going Commercial, Reports “IDTechEx”

Graphene Turns Twenty and Celebrates by Going Commercial, Reports “IDTechEx”

Cambridge, June 5th, 2024

2024 has marked the 20th anniversary of the original isolation of #graphene, first achieved at the University of Manchester in 2004, prior to the award of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010. In the two decades since its isolation, graphene has been the subject of immense hype, labeled as a wonder material with superlative properties capable of enabling society shifting technologies. In reality, the graphene market has been slow to begin approaching maturity, with limited uptake in commercial applications to date. As graphene enters its 21st year since isolation, is this outlook beginning to change?

“IDTechEx” has covered the graphene market for over ten years, independently assessing the technological and commercial progress of graphene and other 2D materials. Their market research report, “Graphene Market & 2D Materials Assessment 2024 2034: Technologies, Markets, Players”, includes granular 10 year graphene market forecasts, is based on profiles of 80+ key players, and leverages extensive in depth coverage of many end use markets for graphene.

The Advanced Materials Show was held at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in #Birmingham, UK, on the 15th and 16th of May 2024. At the expo, the beginning of a transition point in the narrative that graphene is not yet a commercially viable product could be seen. In previous years, graphene suppliers would typically showcase the range of materials offered, often displaying a number of glass vials filled with black powder. At the 2024 edition of the show, “IDTechEx” saw multiple suppliers showcasing tangible products ready for commercial launch. As with all discussions regarding graphene, with the multifunctionality of the material lending itself to many applications, the breadth of these tangible products was noticeable. In this article, “IDTechEx” discusses a number of emerging graphene enhanced products in application areas such as automotive, construction, and more.

Automotive

Haydale is a long standing manufacturer of functionalized graphene, utilizing a plasma based approach, and has developed a functionalized graphene ink for heating applications. At the show, a heater mat for automotive use was showcased, which is claimed to be six times more energy efficient than a typical wire heater. Haydale’s solution consists of a printed heater directly on the auto grade leather. With parallel heating systems, there are multiple failure points. The heating mat heats uniformly and reduces the operational temperature of the device in order to heat the seat surface to 43 degrees, with a power usage of just 15.2 Watts, compared to 88 Watts of the standard system. #Levidian is a company providing modular systems for the production of graphene and low carbon hydrogen. At the Advanced Materials Show 2024, Levidian displayed a graphene reinforced automotive tire. Beyond the show, previous winners of the Tour de France and the Vuelta a Espana have utilized graphene enhanced tires from Vittoria (Italy), which claimed to lower rolling resistance while increasing puncture protection.
Construction

Versarien is a leading proprietor of graphene reinforced 3D concrete printing (3DCP). The major benefits of the material were stated to IDTechEx to be a 30% increase in mechanical strength, alongside a 50 percent #reduction in #water ingress due to the barrier properties of graphene. Graphene can also reduce concrete curing time, enabling the next layer to be printed. Versarien previously launched the Lunar project, consisting of lifestyle pods described as garden spaces suitable for use as an “office, studio, gym, or leisure room”. Vector Homes (UK) is a cleantech startup providing sustainable and low cost homes with an emphasis on utilizing recycled materials such as wool. “IDTechEx” saw its recycled external wall insulation (EWI), which could potentially leverage graphene’s anti static properties via a dip coating process.

Other applications

Graphene Composites has developed a graphene enhanced ballistic shield based on a graphene aerogel composite material encased in a polyethylene cover, with the major advantage being lightweighting without a reduction in performance. The shield has been tested and exceeds the US NIJ Standard 0108.01 Level III rifle protection, with a reported weight of 9 kilgrams—half the weight of typical level III shields. An additional benefit of the shield is provided due to graphene’s thermal properties and involves hiding the user’s IR trace. This is particularly useful for avoiding detection by thermal imaging and is becoming increasingly important with the implementation of drone technology in modern #warfare.

“IDTechEx” spoke with Hydrograph (Canada) and learned that the company’s flagship graphene product (FGA 1) has been trialled successfully by Hawkeye Bio in a biomedical sensor aimed at early detection of lung cancer. The sensor detects enzyme activity, as opposed to enzyme quantity in typical sensors, allowing improved detection of inflammatory diseases such as cancer or autoimmunity. It was stated that the “99.8 percent high purity and consistent geometry” of Hydrograph’s material was crucial to successful trials in the highly sensitive sensors.

Carbon Nanotubes

It should be noted that the products demonstrated at the Advanced Materials Show 2024 will typically result in low volume orders for graphene, with the industry still awaiting the emergence of a killer application to drive the market toward full maturity. It has been argued on multiple occasions that the concrete industry could be this large volume market, but it should be noted that the 3D printed concrete market is an extremely small (almost negligible) niche within the global landscape of construction materials.

This can be juxtapositioned with the carbon nanotube (CNT) market, where a killer application has been found as a conductive additive in the current generation of lithium ion batteries, leading to not only the rapid scale up of production over the past few years but also significant M & A activity from major carbon black players as they enter the CNT market. IDTechEx extensively covers the CNT market, and further details on the use case in lithium ion batteries and other applications areas can be found in the report, “Carbon Nanotubes 2023 through 2033: Market, Technology and Players”.

For more details on the graphene or carbon nanotube markets, including segmentations by application area, please see the IDTechEx reports, “Graphene Market and 2D Materials Assessment 2024 through 2034: Technologies, Markets, Players” and “Carbon Nanotubes 2023 through 2033: Market, Technology and Players”. Downloadable sample pages are available for all “IDTechEx” reports.

For the full portfolio of advanced materials and critical minerals market research from IDTechEx, please visit here …

About “IDTechEx”

“IDTechEx” provides trusted independent research on emerging technologies and their markets. Since 1999, we have been helping our clients to understand new technologies, their supply chains, market requirements, opportunities and forecasts. For more information, contact research@IDTechEx.com or visit here …