NARY
MATERIAL DIFFERENCE
“Graphene is truly international,” says
more than 300 academics now working
across a number of research groups.
That has driven a signi cant number of
publications and citations. In addition, it
has started that journey of collaboration
with industry and, so far, we have over
100 industrial partners.”
For all its academic credentials,
however, it is these industrial partners
that represent the hopes for the GEIC’s
success. This is because the core idea
behind the facility’s existence is to bridge
the so-called ‘Valley of Death’ that exists
between the academic world’s capacity
to initially develop a technology, and the
adoption and successful exploitation of
that technology by industry.
That particular gap is ‘risk’, as far
as companies are concerned. “Risks to
funding, timescale, risk of committing
to something where you don’t know
whether you can upscale it,” Baker points
out. “That risk means people wait and
let other competitors take advantage.
Unfortunately, the UK has a reputation
– some of it well-founded – for doing
great invention over here and letting
other countries come along, take that
invention, and create the products and
supply chains. Part of our strategy is
to nd a business model that makes it
more attractive for industry to engage
here in the UK and retain activity and
engagement.”
He continues: “What we’re trying
to do is ground everything we do in
the academic excellence of physics,
chemistry, materials science and
We’re wholly owned by the University of
Manchester and we have the National
Graphene Institute.”
The GEIC, however, has been built
its car programme, and
there’s a big gap
between making a
gram of material
and making a
kilogram or tens
of kilograms,
or even
tonnes.
“So, for me,
“What we need
to bring together is
the best of academic
know-how, the
signi cant investment
in infrastructure and
equipment and a
partnership alongside
what we need to
bring together is
the best of academic
know-how, the
signi cant investment
in infrastructure and equipment and a
partnership alongside industry to bring
the engineering, manufacturing, the
commercial and the route to market. In
essence, forming that complete supply
chain.” Another signi cant building
block for success lies in reducing the
BUILDING BLOCKS
While acknowledging that the GEIC
F-150.
industry.”
them, as well as reduce noise. Since
graphene-reinforced foam covers for
collaboration. So, we’re still a university
and driven by what universities do.
Baker. “It’s being studied at most – if
not all – universities around the world.
However, here at Manchester, we have
much more around industrial pull, and
a much more rapid and agile way of
engaging with large, small and start-up
businesses. So, what is the best way of
avoiding the valley of death? According
to Baker, it boils down to the creation
of effective supply chains. “Academics
and universities are great at what they
do. But often, if you look at graphene,
they can make it by the gram or perhaps
by the several grams; but along comes
industry, wanting to add graphene to
bring suppliers and potential end users
together, and supporting them with
equipment, academic and industrial
expertise. From these suppliers, Baker
says: “You can buy graphene today
at a quality and a quantity to meet
industrial requirements.” This model is
unashamedly based (Baker uses the
phrase “stolen with pride”) on the model
of the UK’s Catapult Centres, which are
designed to bring together businesses
with academic and research expertise.
The good news, of course, is that
applications are beginning to
appear in signi cant numbers
and at an increasingly highpro
le. Ford, for instance,
has become the rst
automaker to use
graphene parts in its
vehicles, starting
with the Mustang and
Ford acknowledges
the dif culties of graphene
manufacturing and use,
but, in partnership with Eagle
Industries and XG Sciences,
it has determined a way to make use
of graphene reinforcement in certain
components to strengthen and lighten
time taken to move technology from the
2014, Ford and its partners have trialled
noisy components, such as the fuel rail,
pumps and belt-driven pulleys or chaindriven
gears on the front of engines. The
resulting parts are 17% quieter, 20%
stronger and 30% more heat-resistant.
Baker sees these multi-layered
bene ts as one of the key factors that
theoretical to the actual. “We’ve also got
to address turnaround,” says Baker. “If
it takes us three years to take a piece of
research from one TRL to the next, our
weakest link is that we move along in
three-year cycles, which means it can take
us many years to move from discovery
through to production. Therefore we
have to nd a means of disrupting this
business model, so we’re not waiting
6, 12 or 18 months before we have the
results of an experiment.”
will encourage adoption of graphene
in the future. “Why are they putting
graphene in the engine bay?” he says.
“They can take out weight, make it more
energy ef cient and make it less noisy.
One of the exciting parts of graphene
and 2D materials is the ability to disrupt
biochemistry to ensure that this
technology moves from the lab to
the marketplace through a model of
was conceived to ll the valley of
death between mid-TRL and industry,
Baker clari es that its future is not to
act as a graphene supplier. Instead,
its role is to support the whole
graphene supply chain, helping to
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