̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Graphene Flagship

Scientists develop ‘smart pyjamas’ to monitor sleep disorders

sc604 — Tue, 18 Feb 2025 11:06:44 +0000

̽��ֱ��team, led by the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, developed printed fabric sensors that can monitor breathing by detecting tiny movements in the skin, even when the pyjamas are worn loosely around the neck and chest.

̽��ֱ��sensors embedded in the smart pyjamas were trained using a ‘lightweight’ AI algorithm and can identify six different sleep states with 98.6% accuracy, while ignoring regular sleep movements such as tossing and turning. ̽��ֱ��energy-efficient sensors only require a handful of examples of sleep patterns to successfully identify the difference between regular and disordered sleep.

̽��ֱ��researchers say that their smart pyjamas could be useful for the millions of people in the UK who struggle with disordered sleep to monitor their sleep, and how it might be affected by lifestyle changes. ̽��ֱ��results are reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Sleep is vital for human health, yet more than 60% of adults experience poor sleep quality, leading to the loss of between 44 and 54 annual working days, and an estimated one percent reduction in global GDP. Sleep behaviours such as mouth breathing, sleep apnoea and snoring are major contributors to poor sleep quality, and can lead to chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and depression.

“Poor sleep has huge effects on our physical and mental health, which is why proper sleep monitoring is vital,” said Professor Luigi Occhipinti from the Cambridge Graphene Centre, who led the research. “However, the current gold standard for sleep monitoring, polysomnography or PSG, is expensive, complicated and isn’t suitable for long-term use at home.”

Home devices that are simpler than PSG, such as home sleep tests, typically focus on a single condition and are bulky or uncomfortable. Wearable devices such as smartwatches, while more comfortable to wear, can only infer sleep quality, and are not effective for accurately monitoring disordered sleep.

“We need something that is comfortable and easy to use every night, but is accurate enough to provide meaningful information about sleep quality,” said Occhipinti.

To develop the smart pyjamas, Occhipinti and his colleagues built on their earlier work on a smart choker for people with speech impairments. ̽��ֱ��team re-designed the graphene-based sensors for breath analysis during sleep, and made several design improvements to increase sensitivity.

“Thanks to the design changes we made, the sensors are able to detect different sleep states, while ignoring regular tossing and turning,” said Occhinpinti. “ ̽��ֱ��improved sensitivity also means that the smart garment does not need to be worn tightly around the neck, which many people would find uncomfortable. As long as the sensors are in contact with the skin, they provide highly accurate readings.”

̽��ֱ��researchers designed a machine learning model, called SleepNet, that uses the signals captured by the sensors to identify sleep states including nasal breathing, mouth breathing, snoring, teeth grinding, central sleep apnoea (CSA), and obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA). SleepNet is a ‘lightweight’ AI network, that reduces computational complexity to the point where it can be run on portable devices, without the need to connect to computers or servers.

“We pruned the AI model to the point where we could get the lowest computational cost with the highest degree of accuracy,” said Occhinpinti. “This way we are able to embed the main data processors in the sensors directly.”

̽��ֱ��smart pyjamas were tested on healthy patients and those with sleep apnoea, and were able to detect a range of sleep states with an accuracy of 98.6%. By treating the smart pyjamas with a special starching step, they were able to improve the durability of the sensors so they can be run through a regular washing machine.

̽��ֱ��most recent version of the smart pyjamas are also capable of wireless data transfer, meaning the sleep data can be securely transferred to a smartphone or computer.

“Sleep is so important to health, and reliable sleep monitoring can be key in preventative care,” said Occhipinti. “Since this garment can be used at home, rather than in a hospital or clinic, it can alert users to changes in their sleep that they can then discuss with their doctor. Sleep behaviours such as nasal versus mouth breathing are not typically picked up in an NHS sleep analysis, but it can be an indicator of disordered sleep.”

̽��ֱ��researchers are hoping to adapt the sensors for a range of health conditions or home uses, such as baby monitoring, and have been in discussions with different patient groups. They are also working to improve the durability of the sensors for long-term use.

̽��ֱ��research was supported in part by the EU Graphene Flagship, Haleon, and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

Reference:
Chenyu Tang, Wentian Yi et al. ‘A deep learning-enabled smart garment for accurate and versatile monitoring of sleep conditions in daily life.’ PNAS (2025). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2420498122

Researchers have developed comfortable, washable ‘smart pyjamas’ that can monitor sleep disorders such as sleep apnoea at home, without the need for sticky patches, cumbersome equipment or a visit to a specialist sleep clinic.

We need something that is comfortable and easy to use every night, but is accurate enough to provide meaningful information about sleep quality

Luigi Occhipinti

Illustration and photograph of 'smart pyjamas'

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

Yes

‘Smart choker’ uses AI to help people with speech impairment to communicate

sc604 — Fri, 13 Sep 2024 13:40:19 +0000

̽��ֱ��smart choker, developed by researchers at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, incorporates electronic sensors in a soft, stretchable fabric, and is comfortable to wear. ̽��ֱ��device could be useful for people who have temporary or permanent speech impairments, whether due to laryngeal surgery, or conditions such as Parkinson’s, stroke or cerebral palsy.

By incorporating machine learning techniques, the smart choker can also successfully recognise differences in pronunciation, accent and vocabulary between users, reducing the amount of training required.

̽��ֱ��choker is a type of technology known as a silent speech interface, which analyses non-vocal signals to decode speech in silent conditions – the user only needs to mouth the words in order for them to be captured. ̽��ֱ��captured speech signals can then be transferred to a computer or speaker to facilitate conversation.

Tests of the smart choker showed it could recognise words with over 95% accuracy, while using 90% less computational energy than existing state-of-the art technologies. ̽��ֱ��results are reported in the journal npj Flexible Electronics.

“Current solutions for people with speech impairments often fail to capture words and require a lot of training,” said Dr Luigi Occhipinti from the Cambridge Graphene Centre, who led the research. “They are also rigid, bulky and sometimes require invasive surgery to the throat.”

̽��ֱ��smart choker developed by Occhipinti and his colleagues outperforms current technologies on accuracy, requires less computing power, is comfortable for users to wear, and can be removed whenever it’s not needed. ̽��ֱ��choker is made from a sustainable bamboo-based textile, with strain sensors based on graphene ink incorporated in the fabric. When the sensors detect any strain, tiny, controllable cracks form in the graphene. ̽��ֱ��sensitivity of the sensors is more than four times higher than existing state of the art.

“These sensors can detect tiny vibrations, such as those formed in the throat when whispering or even silently mouthing words, which makes them ideal for speech detection,” said Occhipinti. “By combining the ultra-high sensitivity of the sensors with highly efficient machine learning, we’ve come up with a device we think could help a lot of people who struggle with their speech.”

Vocal signals are incredibly complex, so associating a specific signal with a specific word requires a high level of computational processing. “On top of that, every person is different in terms of the way they speak, and machine learning gives us the tools we need to learn and adapt the interpretation of signals from person to person,” said Occhipinti.

̽��ֱ��researchers trained their machine learning model on a database of the most frequently used words in English, and selected words which are frequently confused with each other, such as ‘book’ and ‘look’. ̽��ֱ��model was trained with a variety of users, including different genders, native and non-native English speakers, as well as people with different accents and different speaking speeds.

Thanks to the device’s ability to capture rich dynamic signal characteristics, the researchers found it possible to use lightweight neural network architectures with simplified depth and signal dimensions to extract and enhance the speech information features. This resulted in a machine learning model with high computational and energy efficiency, ideal for integration in battery-operated wearable devices with real-time AI processing capabilities.

“We chose to train the model with lots of different English speakers, so we could show it was capable of learning,” said Occhipinti. “Machine learning has the capability to learn quickly and efficiently from one user to the next, so the retraining process is quick.”

Tests of the smart choker showed it was 95.25% accurate in decoding speech. “I was surprised at just how sensitive the device is,” said Occhipinti. “We couldn’t capture all the signals and complexity of human speech before, but now that we can, it unlocks a whole new set of potential applications.”

Although the choker will have to undergo extensive testing and clinical trials before it is approved for use in patients with speech impairments, the researchers say that their smart choker could also be used in other health monitoring applications, or for improving communication in noisy or secure environments.

̽��ֱ��research was supported in part by the EU Graphene Flagship and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

Reference:
Chenyu Tang et al. ‘Ultrasensitive textile strain sensors redefine wearable silent speech interfaces with high machine learning efficiency.’ npj Flexible Electronics (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41528-024-00315-1

Researchers have developed a wearable ‘smart choker’ that uses a combination of flexible electronics and artificial intelligence techniques to allow people with speech impairments to communicate by detecting tiny movements in the throat.

Luigi Occhipinti

Smart Choker

Yes

Graphene heads to the moon

sc604 — Wed, 30 Nov 2022 15:35:21 +0000

Cambridge researchers are part of a European project testing graphene’s ability to protect spacecraft against the sticky, sharp dust on the moon’s surface – a challenge for lunar missions since the Apollo era.

Graphene may exceed bandwidth demands of future telecommunications

Anonymous — Fri, 12 Oct 2018 12:34:23 +0000

̽��ֱ��researchers have demonstrated how properties of graphene – a two-dimensional form of carbon - enable ultra-wide bandwidth communications and low power consumption to radically change the way data is transmitted across the optical communications systems.

This could make graphene-integrated devices the key ingredient in the evolution of 5G, the Internet-of-Things (IoT), and Industry 4.0. ̽��ֱ��findings are published in Nature Reviews Materials.

As conventional semiconductor technologies approach their physical limitations, researchers need to explore new technologies to realise the most ambitious visions of a future networked global society. Graphene promises a significant step forward in performance for the key components of telecommunications and data communications.

In their new paper, the researchers have presented a vision for the future of graphene-based integrated photonics, and provided strategies for improving power consumption, manufacturability and wafer-scale integration. With this new publication, the Graphene Flagship partners also provide a roadmap for graphene-based photonics devices surpassing the technological requirement for the evolution of datacom and telecom markets driven by 5G, IoT, and the Industry 4.0.

“Graphene integrated in a photonic circuit is a low cost, scalable technology that can operate fibre links at a very high data rates,” said study lead author Marco Romagnoli from CNIT, the National Interuniversity Consortium for Telecommunications in Italy.

Graphene photonics offers advantages both in performance and manufacturing over the state of the art. Graphene can ensure modulation, detection and switching performances meeting all the requirements for the next evolution in photonic device manufacturing.

Co-author Antonio D’Errico, from Ericsson Research, says that “graphene for photonics has the potential to change the perspective of Information and Communications Technology in a disruptive way. Our publication explains why, and how to enable new feature rich optical networks.”

This industrial and academic partnership, comprising researchers in the Cambridge Graphene Centre, CNIT, Ericsson, Nokia, IMEC, AMO, and ICFO produced the vision for the future of graphene photonic integration.

“Collaboration between industry and academia is key for explorative work towards entirely new component technology,” said co-author Wolfgang Templ of Nokia Bell Labs. “Research in this phase bears significant risks, so it is important that academic research and industry research labs join the brightest minds to solve the fundamental problems. Industry can give perspective on the relevant research questions for potential in future systems. Thanks to a mutual exchange of information we can then mature the technology and consider all the requirements for a future industrialization and mass production of graphene-based components.”

“An integrated approach of graphene and silicon-based photonics can meet and surpass the foreseeable requirements of the ever-increasing data rates in future telecom systems,” said Professor Andrea Ferrari, Director of the Cambridge Graphene Centre. “ ̽��ֱ��advent of the Internet of Things, Industry 4.0 and the 5G era represent unique opportunities for graphene to demonstrate its ultimate potential.”

Reference:
Marco Romagnoli et al. ‘Graphene-based integrated photonics for next-generation datacom and telecom.’ Nature Reviews Materials (2018). DOI: 10.1038/s41578-018-0040-9.

Researchers from the Cambridge Graphene Centre, together with industrial and academic collaborators within the European Graphene Flagship project, showed that integrated graphene-based photonic devices offer a solution for the next generation of optical communications.

Lauren V. Robinson / © Springer Nature Ltd

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – as here, on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

Yes

Graphene paves the way to faster high-speed communications

Anonymous — Thu, 31 May 2018 16:45:00 +0000

Graphene, among other materials, can capture particles of light called photons, combine them, and produce a more powerful optical beam. This is due to a physical phenomenon called optical harmonic generation, which is characteristic of nonlinear materials. Nonlinear optical effects can be exploited in a variety of applications, including laser technology, material processing and telecommunications.

Although all materials should demonstrate this behaviour, the efficiency of this process is typically small and cannot be controlled externally. Now, researchers from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, Politecnico di Milano and IIT- Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia have demonstrated that graphene not only shows a good optical response but also how to control the strength of this effect using an electric field. Their results are reported in the journal Nature Nanotechnology. All three institutions are partners in the Graphene Flagship, a pan-European project dedicated to bringing graphene and related materials for commercial applications.

What is graphene?

Graphene – a form of carbon just a single atom thick – has a unique combination of properties that make it useful for applications from flexible electronics and fast data communication, to enhanced structural materials and water treatments. It is highly electrically and thermally conductive, as well as strong and flexible.

How could graphene be useful?

Researchers envision the creation of new graphene optical switches, which could also harness new optical frequencies to transmit data along optical cables, increasing the amount of data that can be transmitted. Currently, most commercial devices using nonlinear optics are only used in spectroscopy. Graphene could pave the way towards the fabrication of new devices for ultra-broad bandwidth applications.

“Our work shows that the third harmonic generation efficiency in graphene can be increased by over 10 times by tuning an applied electric field,” said lead author Giancarlo Soavi, of the Cambridge Graphene Centre.

“ ̽��ֱ��authors found again something unique about graphene: tuneability of third harmonic generation over a broad wavelength range," said Professor Frank Koppens from the ICFO ( ̽��ֱ��Institute of Photonic Sciences)in Barcelona and leader of one of the Graphene Flagship work packages. "As more and more applications are all-optical, this work paves the way to a multitude of technologies.”

Professor Andrea C. Ferrari, Science and Technology Officer of the Graphene Flagship, and Chair of its Management Panel, said: “Graphene never ceases to surprise us when it comes to optics and photonics. ̽��ֱ��Graphene Flagship has put significant investment to study and exploit the optical properties of graphene. This collaborative work could lead to optical devices working on a range of frequencies broader than ever before, thus enabling a larger volume of information to be processed or transmitted.”

Reference:
Giancarlo Soavi et al. 'Broadband, electrically tuneable, third harmonic generation in graphene.' Nature Nanotechnology (2018). DOI: 10.1038/s41565-018-0145-8

Adapted from a Cambridge Graphene Centre press release.

Researchers have created a technology that could lead to new devices for faster, more reliable ultra-broad bandwidth transfers, and demonstrated how electrical fields boost the non-linear optical effects of graphene.

Graphene never ceases to surprise us when it comes to optics and photonics.

Andrea Ferrari

AlexanderAlUS

Yes

Licence type:

Attribution-ShareAlike

Fully integrated circuits printed directly onto fabric

sc604 — Wed, 08 Nov 2017 00:01:00 +0000

̽��ֱ��researchers, from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, working with colleagues in Italy and China, have demonstrated how graphene – a two-dimensional form of carbon – can be directly printed onto fabric to produce integrated electronic circuits which are comfortable to wear and can survive up to 20 cycles in a typical washing machine.

̽��ֱ��new textile electronic devices are based on low-cost, sustainable and scalable inkjet printing of inks based on graphene and other two-dimensional materials, and are produced by standard processing techniques. ̽��ֱ��results are published in the journal Nature Communications.

Based on earlier work on the formulation of graphene inks for printed electronics, the team designed low-boiling point inks, which were directly printed onto polyester fabric. Additionally, they found that modifying the roughness of the fabric improved the performance of the printed devices. ̽��ֱ��versatility of this process allowed the researchers to design not only single transistors but all-printed integrated electronic circuits combining active and passive components.

Most wearable electronic devices that are currently available rely on rigid electronic components mounted on plastic, rubber or textiles. These offer limited compatibility with the skin in many circumstances, are damaged when washed and are uncomfortable to wear because they are not breathable.

“Other inks for printed electronics normally require toxic solvents and are not suitable to be worn, whereas our inks are both cheap, safe and environmentally-friendly, and can be combined to create electronic circuits by simply printing different two-dimensional materials on the fabric,” said Dr Felice Torrisi of the Cambridge Graphene Centre, the paper’s senior author.

“Digital textile printing has been around for decades to print simple colourants on textiles, but our result demonstrates for the first time that such technology can also be used to print the entire electronic integrated circuits on textiles,” said co-author Professor Roman Sordan of Politecnico di Milano. “Although we demonstrated very simple integrated circuits, our process is scalable and there are no fundamental obstacles to the technological development of wearable electronic devices both in terms of their complexity and performance.“

“ ̽��ֱ��printed components are flexible, washable and require low power, essential requirements for applications in wearable electronics,” said PhD student Tian Carey, the paper’s first author.

̽��ֱ��work opens up a number of commercial opportunities for two-dimensional material inks, ranging from personal health and well-being technology, to wearable energy harvesting and storage, military garments, wearable computing and fashion.

“Turning textile fibres into functional electronic components can open to an entirely new set of applications from healthcare and wellbeing to the Internet of Things,” said Torrisi. “Thanks to nanotechnology, in the future our clothes could incorporate these textile-based electronics, such as displays or sensors and become interactive.”

̽��ֱ��use of graphene and other related 2D material (GRM) inks to create electronic components and devices integrated into fabrics and innovative textiles is at the centre of new technical advances in the smart textiles industry. ̽��ֱ��teams at the Cambridge Graphene Centre and Politecnico di Milano are also involved in the Graphene Flagship, an EC-funded, pan-European project dedicated to bringing graphene and GRM technologies to commercial applications.

̽��ֱ��research was supported by grants from the Graphene Flagship, the European Research Council’s Synergy Grant, ̽��ֱ��Engineering and Physical Science Research Council, ̽��ֱ��Newton Trust, the International Research Fellowship of the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Ministry of Science and Technology of China. ̽��ֱ��technology is being commercialised by Cambridge Enterprise, the ̽��ֱ��’s commercialisation arm.

Reference:
Tian Carey et al. ‘Fully inkjet-printed two-dimensional material field-effect heterojunctions for wearable and textile electronics.’ Nature Communications (2017). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-01210-2

Researchers have successfully incorporated washable, stretchable and breathable electronic circuits into fabric, opening up new possibilities for smart textiles and wearable electronics. ̽��ֱ��circuits were made with cheap, safe and environmentally friendly inks, and printed using conventional inkjet printing techniques.

Turning textile fibres into functional electronic components can open to an entirely new set of applications from healthcare and wellbeing to the Internet of Things.

Felice Torrisi

Sample circuit printed on fabric

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For image use please see separate credits above.

Yes

Graphene shown to safely interact with neurons in the brain

sc604 — Fri, 29 Jan 2016 10:09:03 +0000

Researchers have successfully demonstrated how it is possible to interface graphene – a two-dimensional form of carbon – with neurons, or nerve cells, while maintaining the integrity of these vital cells. ̽��ֱ��work may be used to build graphene-based electrodes that can safely be implanted in the brain, offering promise for the restoration of sensory functions for amputee or paralysed patients, or for individuals with motor disorders such as epilepsy or Parkinson’s disease.

̽��ֱ��research, published in the journal ACS Nano, was an interdisciplinary collaboration coordinated by the ̽��ֱ�� of Trieste in Italy and the Cambridge Graphene Centre.

Previously, other groups had shown that it is possible to use treated graphene to interact with neurons. However the signal to noise ratio from this interface was very low. By developing methods of working with untreated graphene, the researchers retained the material’s electrical conductivity, making it a significantly better electrode.

“For the first time we interfaced graphene to neurons directly,” said Professor Laura Ballerini of the ̽��ֱ�� of Trieste in Italy. “We then tested the ability of neurons to generate electrical signals known to represent brain activities, and found that the neurons retained their neuronal signalling properties unaltered. This is the first functional study of neuronal synaptic activity using uncoated graphene based materials.”

Our understanding of the brain has increased to such a degree that by interfacing directly between the brain and the outside world we can now harness and control some of its functions. For instance, by measuring the brain's electrical impulses, sensory functions can be recovered. This can be used to control robotic arms for amputee patients or any number of basic processes for paralysed patients – from speech to movement of objects in the world around them. Alternatively, by interfering with these electrical impulses, motor disorders (such as epilepsy or Parkinson’s) can start to be controlled.

Scientists have made this possible by developing electrodes that can be placed deep within the brain. These electrodes connect directly to neurons and transmit their electrical signals away from the body, allowing their meaning to be decoded.

However, the interface between neurons and electrodes has often been problematic: not only do the electrodes need to be highly sensitive to electrical impulses, but they need to be stable in the body without altering the tissue they measure.

Too often the modern electrodes used for this interface (based on tungsten or silicon) suffer from partial or complete loss of signal over time. This is often caused by the formation of scar tissue from the electrode insertion, which prevents the electrode from moving with the natural movements of the brain due to its rigid nature.

Graphene has been shown to be a promising material to solve these problems, because of its excellent conductivity, flexibility, biocompatibility and stability within the body.

Based on experiments conducted in rat brain cell cultures, the researchers found that untreated graphene electrodes interfaced well with neurons. By studying the neurons with electron microscopy and immunofluorescence the researchers found that they remained healthy, transmitting normal electric impulses and, importantly, none of the adverse reactions which lead to the damaging scar tissue were seen.

According to the researchers, this is the first step towards using pristine graphene-based materials as an electrode for a neuro-interface. In future, the researchers will investigate how different forms of graphene, from multiple layers to monolayers, are able to affect neurons, and whether tuning the material properties of graphene might alter the synapses and neuronal excitability in new and unique ways. “Hopefully this will pave the way for better deep brain implants to both harness and control the brain, with higher sensitivity and fewer unwanted side effects,” said Ballerini.

“We are currently involved in frontline research in graphene technology towards biomedical applications,” said Professor Maurizio Prato from the ̽��ֱ�� of Trieste. “In this scenario, the development and translation in neurology of graphene-based high-performance biodevices requires the exploration of the interactions between graphene nano- and micro-sheets with the sophisticated signalling machinery of nerve cells. Our work is only a first step in that direction.”

“These initial results show how we are just at the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the potential of graphene and related materials in bio-applications and medicine,” said Professor Andrea Ferrari, Director of the Cambridge Graphene Centre. “ ̽��ֱ��expertise developed at the Cambridge Graphene Centre allows us to produce large quantities of pristine material in solution, and this study proves the compatibility of our process with neuro-interfaces.”

̽��ֱ��research was funded by the Graphene Flagship, a European initiative which promotes a collaborative approach to research with an aim of helping to translate graphene out of the academic laboratory, through local industry and into society.

Reference:
Fabbro A., et. al. ‘Graphene-Based Interfaces do not Alter Target Nerve Cells.’ ACS Nano (2016). DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.5b05647

Researchers have shown that graphene can be used to make electrodes that can be implanted in the brain, which could potentially be used to restore sensory functions for amputee or paralysed patients, or for individuals with motor disorders such as Parkinson’s disease.

We are just at the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the potential of graphene and related materials in bio-applications and medicine.

Andrea Ferrari

Modified by Susanna Bosi from image licensed from ktdesign/shutterstock.com

Graphene Neuron Interface

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For image use please see separate credits above.

Yes

Graphene means business – two-dimensional material moves from the lab to the UK factory floor

sc604 — Fri, 06 Nov 2015 15:50:52 +0000

More than 40 companies, mostly from the UK, are in Cambridge this week to demonstrate some of the new products being developed from graphene and other two-dimensional materials.

Graphene is a two-dimensional material made up of sheets of carbon atoms. With its combination of exceptional electrical, mechanical and thermal properties, graphene has the potential to revolutionise industries ranging from healthcare to electronics.

On Thursday, the Cambridge Graphene Technology Day – an exhibition of graphene-based technologies organised by the Cambridge Graphene Centre, together with its partner companies – took place, showcasing new products based on graphene and related two-dimensional materials.

Some of the examples of the products and prototypes on display included flexible displays, printed electronics, and graphene-based heaters, all of which have potential for consumer applications. Other examples included concrete and road surfacing incorporating graphene, which would mean lighter and stronger infrastructure, and roads that have to be resurfaced far less often, greatly lowering the costs to local governments.

“At the Cambridge Graphene Technology Day we saw several real examples of graphene making its way from the lab to the factory floor – creating jobs and growth for Cambridge and the UK,” said Professor Andrea Ferrari, Director of the Cambridge Graphene Centre and of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Graphene Technology. “Cambridge is very well-placed in the network of UK, European and global initiatives targeting the development of new products and devices based on graphene and related materials.”

Cambridge has a long history of research and application into carbon-based materials, since the identification of the graphite structure in 1924, moving through to diamond, diamond-like carbon, conducting polymers, and carbon nanotubes, with a proven track-record in taking carbon research from the lab to the factory floor.

Cambridge is also one of the leading centres in graphene technology. Dr Krzysztof Koziol from the Department of Materials Science & Metallurgy sits on the management board of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Graphene Technology. He is developing hybrid electrical wires made from copper and graphene in order to improve the amount of electric current they can carry, functional graphene heaters, anti-corrosion coatings, and graphene inks which can be used to draw printed circuit boards directly onto paper and other surfaces.

Koziol has established a spin-out company, Cambridge Nanosystems, which produces high volume amounts of graphene for industrial applications. ̽��ֱ��company, co-founded by recent Cambridge graduate Catharina Paulkner, has recently established a partnership with a major auto manufacturer to start developing graphene-based applications for cars.

Other researchers affiliated with the Cambridge Graphene Centre include Professor Clare Grey of the Department of Chemistry, who is part of the Cambridge Graphene Centre Management Board. She is incorporating graphene and related materials into next-generation batteries and has recently demonstrated a breakthrough in Lithium air batteries by exploiting graphene. Professor Mete Atature from the Department of Physics, is one of the supervisors of the Centre for Doctoral Training in Graphene Technology. He uses two-dimensional materials for research in quantum optics, including the possibility of a computer network based on quantum mechanics, which would be far more secure and more powerful than classical computers.

“ ̽��ֱ��Cambridge Graphene Centre is a great addition to the Cambridge technology and academic cluster,” said Chuck Milligan, CEO of FlexEnable, which is developing technology for flexible displays and other electronic components. "We are proud to be a partner of the Centre and support its activities. Graphene and other two dimensional materials are very relevant to flexible electronics for displays and sensors, and we are passionate about taking technology from labs to the factory floor. Our unique manufacturing processes for flexible electronics, together with the exponential growth expected in the flexible display and Internet of Things sensor markets, provide enormous opportunity for this exciting class of materials. It is for this reason that today we placed in the Cambridge Graphene Centre Laboratories a semi-automatic, large area EVG Spray coater. This valuable tool, donated to the ̽��ֱ��, will be a good match between the area of research of solution processable graphene and Flexenable long term technological vision."

FlexEnable is supporting efforts to scale the graphene technology for use in tomorrow's factories. ̽��ֱ��company has donated a large area deposition machine to the ̽��ֱ��, which is used for depositing large amounts of graphene onto various substrates.

“ ̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� is at the heart of the largest, most vibrant technology cluster in Europe,” said Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, the ̽��ֱ��’s Vice-Chancellor. “Our many partnerships with industry support the continued economic success of the region and the UK more broadly, and the Cambridge Graphene Centre is an important part of that – working with industry to bring these promising materials to market.”

Professor David Cardwell, Head of the Cambridge Engineering Department, indicated the planned development in Cambridge of a scale-up centre, where research will be nurtured towards higher technology readiness levels in collaboration with UK industry. “ ̽��ֱ��Cambridge Graphene Centre is a direct and obvious link to this scale-up initiative, which will offer even more exciting opportunities for industry university collaborations,” he said.

Among the many local companies with an interest in graphene technologies are FlexEnable, the R&D arm of global telecommunications firm Nokia, printed electronics pioneer Novalia, Cambridge Nanosystems, Cambridge Graphene, and Aixtron, which specialises in the large-scale production of graphene powders, inks and films for a variety of applications.

Underpinning this commercial R&D effort in Cambridge and the East of England is public and private investment in the Cambridge Graphene Centre via the Graphene Flagship, part funded by the European Union. ̽��ֱ��flagship is a pan-European consortium, with a fast-growing number of industrial partners and associate members.

A major showcase of companies developing new technologies from graphene and other two-dimensional materials took place this week at the Cambridge Graphene Centre.

Cambridge is very well-placed in the network of UK, European and global initiatives targeting the development of new products and devices based on graphene and related materials

Andrea Ferrari

Graphene: A 2D materials revolution

̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge

Some of the products and prototypes on display at Cambridge Graphene Technology Day.

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For image use please see separate credits above.

Yes