Oct 30 2015
Graphene has the potential to fully charge your phone in five minutes, clean up radioactive waste, create a super strong artificial limb or make ocean water drinkable.
Until now large scale adoption of the “wonder material” has been stymied by limited production capabilities and a high price tag. Today during remarks at GrapChina 2015 in Qingdao, China, Dr. Bor Jang, chief executive officer and co-founder of Angstron Materials Inc.
(AMI) announced a two-pronged plan he says will eliminate these bottlenecks and jump start market growth.
“We are ramping up production of graphene from 300 metric tons a year to 1000 metric tons a year in 2016,” says Jang. “Inability to source commercial scale quantities of graphene has historically hampered the growth and implementation of graphene-enabled and graphene enhanced applications such as next-generation energy technologies, composites, water treatment, and corrosion protection. Increased production means we can bring market costs down too, giving companies previously priced out of the graphene market access to the material’s unique performance advantages.”
Jang also announced that AMI will open its extensive graphene production patent portfolio.
“We’ll license our graphene production processes to select partners worldwide,” he says. “This open architecture approach will create a graphene ecosystem that can foster innovation and tear down walls that have inhibited global collaboration. In turn this will equip manufacturers to develop graphene-based products that range from everyday items to inventions that are truly lifechanging.”
The first to successfully produce nano-graphene sheets in 2001, Jang and Wen Huang patented the first production method for pristine graphene under U.S. patent number 7,071,258 in October 2002. Jang and co-founder Aruna Zhamu hold more than 160 graphene-related patents. AMI will use its technical know-how and experience to assist suppliers with high volume production and help users accelerate time to market.
“By partnering with other companies, we are dramatically increasing the availability and knowledge base of this new class of material,” notes Ian Fuller, vice president for business development and engineering at Angstron. “The applications of graphene are too large and varied for any one company to address alone. By opening fundamental intellectual property to global players, the graphene industrial ecosystem will multiply and allow commercialization to flourish.”
“To cultivate the growth of graphene in its new market space, AMI has established a win-win strategy that will invite and promote development of new applications,” adds Executive Vice President Dr. Edward Chan. “Sharing AMI’s patent portfolio is a key step in shaking loose the inertia that has plagued the graphene industry while at the same time forging a new paradigm of collaboration for application development.”
About Angstron Materials
Headquartered in Dayton, Ohio, Angstron Materials is the world’s largest producer of graphene materials and a leader in graphene utilization and application. The graphene manufacturer is ISO 9001:2008 certified for full-scale graphene production. An annual production capacity of 300 tons supports a range of product development efforts lead by customers from 38 countries and dedicated to commercializing Angstron’s raw materials and graphene-enhanced products. Angstron’s internal graphene-enhanced products and technologies support thermal management materials, nanocomposites, energy storage systems, paints and coatings, and transparent conductive films.