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César Vitório Franco Full Professor of Chemistry Departamento de Química - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina - Campus Universitário - Trindade Florianópolis - SC – Brasil - CEP: 88040-900

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At the meeting I attended the second week of September 2013, the TNT2013 Seville (Spain) - Trends in NanoTechnology , had an entire section devoted to graphene , as it is fashionable in all the meetings of materials and nanotechnology. Apart from academic presentations on the progress achieved in the laboratory and theoretical study of graphene there was a very special section entitled Parallel Session - Graphene - Industrial Session. In this section the players in the production and application of graphene ( BASF , NOKIA , and other small start up's ) made quite transparent and honest consideration of its industrial use this new nanomaterial . Repeating what we saw with the carbon nanotubes , the fad now centered in this academic studies of graphene generating many promises, generous sums of public funds , but without application prospects in the relevant industry , for lack of real prospects for practical application and no prospects for production scale. Graphene is prohibitively expensive to make if one rely on figures of 2008, that estimate a cost $100 million to produce a single cubic centimeter.

TNT2013 Seville (Spain) – Trends in NanoTechnology

}  Matthias Schwab (BASF SE, Germany) “Graphene Technology Plataform at

BASF;

}  Amaia Zurustuza (GRAPHENEA, Spain) “Future Applications of Graphene”;

}  Paolo Bondavalli (Thalles Research & Tecnology, France) “Graphene related

materials for non-volatile resistive memories: a review”;

}  Stephano Borini (Nokia Research Center, UK) “Graphene-enabled innovative

solutions for consumer electronics.

At BASF graphene and graphene materials are currently being studied for several potential fields of application. We have set up a graphene technology platform aiming at the systematic investigation of this new carbon material fabricated either by top-down or bottom-up procedures.

Owing to its appealing electrical conductivity, graphene can be used for conductive formulations and coatings as well as for polymer composite materials with antistatic properties.

Also, graphene may serve as a new carbon material thus replacing or complementing traditional carbon black additives in lithium- ion batteries as well as activated carbons in supercapacitor devices.

It is also intended to evaluate graphene-based transparent conductive layers for their use in displays, organic solar cells and organic light emitting diodes.

On a longer perspective the semi-conducting properties of graphene nanoribbons fabricated from chemical bottom-up approaches shall be explored.

The talk will focus on the recent activities of BASF in the field of graphene and provide an evaluation of this promising material from an industrial point of view.

Graphene has emerged as a new material with a very bright future. It is predicted that it could be applied in many different fields ranging from energy, electronics, optoelectronics, aerospace, lighting, and up to biotechnology to mention a few. Some of these applications will be covered during this talk such as the use of graphene in future light harvesting devices [1], optical transistors [2], organic light emitting diodes and flexible batteries [3].

However, unique properties are not the only requirement that has to be fulfilled in order to be successful in the marketplace [4]. There are other important factors that have to be taken into consideration such as the availability of suitable industrial production methods, market readiness/awareness, industrial readiness of value chains, an effective technological progress, etc. Therefore, I will also try to shed some light into the industrial future of this material.

References [1] J. Tielrooij, J. C. W. Song, S. A. Jensen, A. Centeno, A. Pesquera, A. Zurutuza Elorza, M. Bonn, L. S. Levitov, and F. H.

L. Koppens, Nature Physics, 248 (2013). [2] J. Chen, M. Badioli, P. Alonso-González, S. Thongrattanasiri, F. Huth, J. Osmond, M. Spasenović, A. Centeno, A.

Pesquera, P. Godignon, A. Zurutuza Elorza, N. Camara, F. J. García de Abajo, R. Hillenbrand, and F. H. L. Koppens, Nature 487, 77 (2012).

[3] D. Wei, S. Haque, A. Piers, J. Kivioja, T. Ryhänen, A. Pesquera, A. Centeno, B.Alonso, A. Chuvilin, and A. Zurutuza, Journal of Materials Chemistry A 1, 3177 (2013).

[4] H. Alcalde, J. de la Fuente, B. Kamp and A. Zurutuza, Proceedings of the IEEE 101, 1793 (2013).

} Amaia Zurutuza, scientific director for the Spanish technology firm Graphenea, which aims to produce custom-made graphene products for industry, was also optimistic that the demands on graphene science would help to yield "game- changing" new products. } Zurutuza described graphene as a "disruptive material" – a material that provokes disruptions to power balances in numerous materials and markets – and said that graphene was proving that it deserves this status. } Graphenea, which numbers Nokia and Sigma-Aldrich among its customers, has a large portfolio of graphene products under development, according to Zurutuza. } Her presentation focused on solar cells, flexible batteries and optical transistors, applications on which the company has worked with customers such as the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO) and the Technical University of Madrid to bring to an advanced point of development. } "We believe that the graphene market will grow," Zurutuza said, "but we know we have to address certain challenges such as the cost, scalability and reliability of graphene material, plus the need to match its properties with product applications." } "And we must remember that it will take time to get there," she added. } Unrealistic expectations about the potential powers of the super-carbon graphene could hinder the material’s development cycle, according to some developers.

Amaia Zurustuza (GRAPHENEA, Spain) “Future Applications of Graphene

}  New technology enablers - such as new functional materials – may allow the mass scale production of innovative electronic devices with outstanding performance and new form factors, driving innovation in mobile industry. In particular, graphene and other 2D materials have already demonstrated a great potential for radical technological innovations in a plenty of R&D fields, offering new opportunities in electronics and optoelectronics.

}  We’ll report a few examples to illustrate how the development of graphene technology may impact on the field of flexible electronics, providing solutions for sensing and energy storage. Highly sensitive graphene- based sensors have been demonstrated in various fields, spanning from chemical sensors to photodetectors, and 2D materials are ideal candidates for the actual achievement of flexibility and stretchability. In addition, the unique 2D nature of these materials can lead to unprecedented sensing performances, paving the way to new applications in various fields such as consumer electronics, mobile health and environmental monitoring.

}  Furthermore, graphene is an ideal material for the development of portable energy storage components, thanks to the high specific surface area, the superior electrical conductivity, a high chemical tolerance and a broad electrochemical window. Graphene technology can enable a combination of flexible components with low-cost and low-power sensors, thus opening new avenues in the field of portable electronic devices. Also, scalability to mass production together with compatibility with low cost manufacturing processes, such as printing and roll-to-roll techniques, are major advantages of this technology. Therefore, graphene may represent an important technological platform for the next generation of mobile devices.

Ø  The players in the production and application of graphene are not sure of their industrial success (BASF, NOKIA, andstart up’s) face major commercialization hurdles.

Ø  Besides the lack of real prospects for practical application is the problem of scale production and reducing costs

Ø  As it was with the carbon nanotubes, the fad is centered in academic studies of graphene generating many promises, however no application prospects in the relevant industry

}  Despite the opportunity however, the absence of production

scale-up has yet failed to pull graphene out of research and into

mass market, leaving many to ask;

}  How can the critical challenges and adoption barriers be overcome to

enable graphene’s commercialization?

}  Where do the viable applications lie that can be brought to

commercial scale? And when will it happen?

}  For commercially viable applications to be realized, there is a

pressing need for industrial and academic collaboration to drive

the scale up production of successful laboratory fabrication

techniques. http://www.graphene-applications-usa-2013.com/

}  Steps including the initiation of material standardization to ensure

quality control must be enacted, along with identification of the

bottlenecks in upscaling production so graphene can realize its

revolut ionary potential. http:/ /www.graphene-applications-

usa-2013.com/