Graphene Coating: introduction and market status - Page 20

Graphene 3D Lab announced that it will be selling a new single-layer graphene oxide material under the trade name of ORG-GO.

The new material can reportedly be easily dissolved in a variety of organic solvents to achieve ultrahigh concentrations. ORG-GO also boasts outstanding thermal stability. G3L expects that the ORG-GO product line will find numerous applications such as being a reinforcement for polymers and nanocomposites as well as for the preparation of high-performance graphene inks and coatings.

The Sixth Element Materials Technology is a Chengzhou, China based company that develops and produces graphene and graphene oxide materials. The company recently opened a sales office in Europe, and appointed Bernhard Münzing as sales director.

Bernhard was kind enough to participate in an interview with graphene-info. Bernhard is an industrial engineer with a focus on chemistry, who has held different positions in sales, materials management, marketing and business development in big as well as medium sized chemical companies.

Q: We understand that The Sixth Element (T6E) currently produces graphene flakes and graphene oxide, in a 100 ton/year plant in Chengzhou. Is that correct? Can you tell us anything regarding the current production plant?

Talga Resources has outlined its updated commercialization strategy. It is seeking to unlock early commercialization opportunities based on the production of four specific graphene products for use within targeted industrial markets. The development of these product lines is in addition to the supply of raw graphene and graphite materials which has been the Company’s focus to date.

The new strategy is reportedly a progression made possible by the growth of Talga’s pilot plant facility in Germany. Recent equipment scale up and a significant boost to the Company’s technical team enables this new ‘applied products’ capability and expedited path to associated sources of revenue.

One exciting application of graphene is in the coating industry. Graphene's high resistivity can make for durable coatings that do not crack and are resistant to water and oil, while a strong barrier effect can contribute to extraordinary anti-oxidant, scratch-resistant and anti-UVA coatings. Don't miss our new article that introduces Graphene Coating.

Four layers of GO coating on polycarbonate

In March 2016 we posted that Pacific American Coal (PAK) will take a controlling interest in Imagine Intelligent Materials, the Australian developer of graphene-based coatings for industrial textiles and fibers.

PAK announced that the company has now completed the acquisition of a 20% stake in Imagine IM. PAK raised $1.6 million (before costs) which will be used to fund the first phase of the Imagine acquisition. PAK is scheduled to acquire another 20% from Imagine IM’s existing shareholders by 30th June 2016.

Elcora Advanced Materials recently reported on the progress of its Graphene R&D Lab in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Construction of the graphene production facility commenced in February 2016 and the equipment is now in place and commissioning is reportedly on schedule.

According to the company, the lab will develop and optimize a small industrial-sized graphene production chain, as well as conduct graphene research in energy storage, coatings and printed electronics, developing commercial applications. The (approximately) 2000 sq ft size Lab is designed to provide secondary refining of the company's graphite from the Ragedara Mine in Sri Lanka as well as other graphite deposits, and to produce quality graphene for distribution and sale to other R&D organizations. In addition, it will also be used to conduct Elcora's own internal graphene application development, as part of the company's vertical integration plan.

China-based Knano Graphene Technology launched an ambitious project to construct a large-scale graphene production plant. We talked to the company's marketing chief to learn more about this interesting project.

Knano aims to finish construction by the end of 2016, and to start shipping products to customers in 2017. The new plant will mostly produce graphene-enhanced pastes, used for coatings and as Li-Ion battery anode materials. Knano says it already has customers that approved these products produced at the company's current production lines.

Innova Research recently published a survey that states that the Chinese graphene market revenue for 2015 was estimated at $6.1 million, a 335.7% jump from $1.4 million for 2014.

The survey also specifies that significant progress has been made on the adoption of graphene in a number of industrial applications in 2015, namely touch screens, anti-corrosive coating, and lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). These adoptions are the primary reasons for the soaring Chinese graphene market revenue in 2015.

Australia-based Imagine IM announced that Australia plans to become the first country to use graphene in the large scale manufacture of an industrial product; The company had entered into a licensing agreement with Australian geotextiles manufacturer, Geofabrics Australasia, and the insight gained from working with Geofabrics was key to the development of the graphene manufacturing solution. Geofabrics is scheduled to provide the marketplace with the first of its graphene-coated geotextile products in August 2016.

The agreement will see Geofabrics become the exclusive Australian licensee of Imagine IM's graphene coating technology for applications in geotextiles. Geofabrics will use the technology to offer Australian civil engineering companies significantly improved capacity to locate and remedy leaks with applications in landfill and mining construction.

XG Sciences aims to raise $24 million through an initial public offering to fund operations, as it continues to commercialize composite materials for lithium-ion batteries and other applications. Of the $24 million XGS hopes to raise through an IPO, $11.4 million will go to fund operations for the next two years, by which time the company might begin generating positive cash flow from operations. Proceeds from the IPO would also go to working capital, and to increase capacity and its sales and technical service staff.

While the company has accumulated operating losses exceeding $43 million during its development stage, the securities filing cites a growing customer list and order volume. XG Sciences projects 2016 revenues of $5 million to $10 million through the sale of graphene and graphene nanoplatelets for electronic and industrial products that use lithium-ion batteries. A number of companies are currently testing XG Sciences’ materials for applications including lithium-ion batteries, supercapacitors, thermal shielding, inks and coatings, printed electronics, construction products, composites and military uses.