A British company at the forefront of advanced materials development, Perpetuus Advanced Materials, has declared that the quality test conducted by Cardiff University on its functionalised graphenes has proved successful.
Perpetuus produces functionalised graphenes for applications as enablers in polymers and as nano enhancing fillers under independently observed conditions and these graphene materials were used for the test.
Scientists from the Cardiff Catalysis Institute, School of Chemistry, Cardiff University headed by Dr. David Morgan conducted a comprehensive characterisation and analysis of the functionalised graphenes. XRD, XPS, Raman and microscopy were some of the techniques used for the test.
Based on the results, it was inferred that the proprietary plasma manufacturing process produced friable, highly crystalline, commercial-scale quantities of functionalised graphenes. The SEM quality analysis was supervised by Dr. Thierry Mathis of Swansea University.
Many graphene applications are restricted by graphene being not able to exist without any support over extended widths and lengths. Hence, stability is attained through a number of layers, normally less than ten. It was surmised from the study that the plasma technique of graphene production adopted by Perpetuus could generate stacks of below ten layer thickness with high quality domains.
Perpetuus was delighted with the results and requested that Dr. David Morgan evaluate the same materials used in the test for its suitability in a commercial setting by handling and managing conductive ink production.
The test results concluded that the resulting ink with a 5 ohm per square resistivity was the perfect choice for mass-market commercialisation. The conlusion stated: “This form of ink production offers a great improvement over existing methods.”
Perpetuus produced the graphene materials used in this test as part of an autonomous quantity verification procedure. That process was performed by industrial process expert Scott Grant in the presence of accountants Grant Thornton, UK as independent observers. According to the study, at 30kg per batch, the theoretical production capacity of the plant was 141,690kg per annum and the practical capacity was 27,150kg per annum from a single reactor.
A senior project industrial engineer from Scott Grant, Robert J Hill, visited the Perpetuus premises and took direct independent observations, while graphene grade NGP COOH was being manufactured. Associate Director of Grant Thorton, Oliver W Bridge, was also present for observing the work study. Samples were taken from each batch before and after the process and sealed. These were analyzed to verify the input and output material.
From a production point of view, the only drawback observed was that there was only one high-grade stainless steel manufacturing barrel. Introducing more barrels may accelerate production but it would be required to determine the relaxation time for the work force and in order to ensure quick changeovers, an SMED approach would have to be developed.
The Perpetuus Board deems that the results obtained from the independent quality and quantity studies of the functionalised graphenes from Perpetuus show that:
- The production capacity of Perpetuus is 140,000kg per annum
- The plasma production process from Perpetuus can produce highly crystalline, friable functionalized materials, which are commercially suitable.
According to Perpetuus, this is the first verifiable, detailed ‘full suite’ analysis of industrial scale production of graphene materials.
John Buckland, CEO of Perpetuus Advanced Materials, said:
“One of the greatest challenges the graphene industry faces today is how to produce high quality functionalised materials, on a large scale, at low cost, usingreliable and robust technology.
By undertaking this independent study and making our graphenes available at £50 per kilogram, we hope to build confidence amongst potential producers of graphene enabled applications and products.I sincerely hope other graphene material producers invest in similar testing protocols, using the ‘full-suite’ characterisation and analysis developed by Cardiff and Swansea Universities.
We are delighted that we have been able to independently verify the functionality of our conductive inks and pastes, which we believe begins to demonstrate the potential of 2D materials and allows potential customers real visibilityof and the opportunity to gain confidence in our work.”