Graphene CVD sheets - updates and market status - Page 5

This is a sponsored post by planarTECH
Remember, when investing your capital is at risk.

Since planarTECH's business encompasses the entire graphene value chain (from academics to producers to application developers) the company would like to call out to all graphene professionals and others who may be interested to take part in this exciting graphene crowdfunding project.

planarTECH is aiming to raise at least £350,000, but even small investments (as little as £10) are welcome and encouraged since the company is set on making this a graphene community endeavor. Don't miss your chance to be a part of an early stage and promising graphene technology company!

UK-based planarTECH has launched an equity crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs, as part of Graphene-Info's Graphene Crowdfunding Arena. planarTECH aims to expand its current business and also initiate new graphene endeavors. Investors are now able to participate in this financing round.

Here's our interview with planarTECH's co-founder and CEO, J. Patrick Frantz - who explains the company's technology, business and future plans.

UK-based planarTECH has launched an equity crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs, as part of Graphene-Info's Graphene Crowdfunding Arena. planarTECH aims to expand its current business and also initiate new graphene endeavors. Investors are now able to participate in this financing round, already at 39% only a few hours after it opened!

planarTECH, founded in 2014, supplies CVD equipment for the production of high quality graphene sheets, as well as other 2D materials. The company was focused on research institutes, and already sold over 65 systems with a customer list that includes Manchester University, the University of Cambridge, Stanford University and the National University of Singapore.

UK-based planarTECH is launching an equity crowdfunding campaign at on Seedrs, as part of Graphene-Info's Graphene Crowdfunding Arena, and the company now released its first investor video pitch that summarizes the business and technology:

planarTECH is the first company to apply to our Graphene Crowdfunding Arena, and potential investors can currently pre-register for exclusive early access to this campaign. The first step should be to join Seedrs as an investor (which will also enable the participation in future graphene campaigns) and then to apply to planarTECH’s investment page as an interested investor. The company's campaign will go live soon!

This is a sponsored article by Dr Richard Collins, IDTechEx

Graphene is on the cusp of significant market growth; the opportunities are exciting and diverse, each with significant potential. Graphene and 2D Materials Europe 2020 (13-14 May, Berlin) is the largest B2B event on the topic with a dedicated focus on the commercial frontiers. www.GrapheneEurope.tech

There is often confusion surrounding the types of graphene, commercial status, and their target markets. This article will briefly summarise each and showcase what to expect at this event.

UK-based planarTECH is launching an equity crowdfunding campaign at on Seedrs, as part of Graphene-Info's Graphene Crowdfunding Arena. planarTECH aims to expand its current business and also initiate new graphene endeavors.

planarTECH, founded in 2014, supplies CVD equipment for the production of high quality graphene sheets, as well as other 2D materials. The company was focused on research institutes, and already sold over 65 systems with a customer list that includes Manchester University, the University of Cambridge, Stanford University and the National University of Singapore.

Researchers from Nanjing University in China have developed a method to make large graphene films free of any wrinkles. The ultra-smooth films could enable large-scale production of electronic devices that harness the unique physical and chemical properties of graphene and other 2D materials.

Wrinkles in graphene films grown via chemical vapor deposition appear as jagged white lines at the top of this atomic force microscope image (left), but they disappear when the material is treated with a hydrogen plasma (right). Credit: Nature

Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is the best-known method for making high-quality graphene sheets. It typically involves growing graphene by pumping methane gas onto copper substrates heated to temperatures around 1,000 °C, and then transferring the graphene to another surface such as silicon. But some of the graphene sticks to the copper surface, and as the graphene and copper expand and contract at different rates, wrinkles form in the graphene sheets. Such wrinkles often present hurdles for charge carriers and lower the film’s conductivity. Other researchers have tried to reduce wrinkles using low growth temperatures or special copper substrates, but the wrinkles have proven difficult to eliminate entirely, according to Libo Gao, a physicist at Nanjing University.

Graphenea has announced the launch of a new product highly flat monolayer graphene. The graphene is grown by CVD on copper thin film on a 2 sapphire substrate. With extremely low roughness that is less than 4 nm, this new product is targeted at applications in photonics, high-performance electronics, magnetic memory, and freestanding membranes.

The product aims to meet wafer-scale integration requirements to build uniform graphene devices in a fashion compatible with current industrial fabrication methods. The flat graphene product is ready to be transferred by electrochemical delamination or dry methods since the sapphire substrate is robust enough to withstand mechanical damage, preventing tearing and wrinkling of the thin Cu sheet. The total wafer thickness is 430 micrometers. Full product information can be found in Graphenea's online store.

In order for CVD graphene to be used in its intended application, it needs to be transferred from the growth substrate to a target substrate a challenging but extremely important process step. Typically the transfer is done by spin-coating a supporting polymer layer and then chemically dissolving away the copper to release the graphene film from the substrate. The transferred graphene produced in this way is prone to contamination from the chemical agents used to remove the growth substrate as well as defective amorphous carbon generated during the high-temperature CVD growth. It also frequently leads to a substantial amount of polymer particle residue on the graphene generated during the transfer process. A third source of contamination could be airborne particles that are adsorbed onto the graphene surface.

Top: Schematic of the activated carbon-coated lint roller for cleaning the graphene surface. Bottom left: AFM image of unclean graphene on Cu foil. Bottom right: AFM image of superclean graphene on Cu foil. Image taken from Nanowerk

Researchers from Peking University and Tsinghua University in China and University of Manchester in the UK have recently demonstrated that the amorphous carbon contaminants on CVD-produced graphene, which could greatly degrade its properties, can be removed by an activated carbon-coated lint roller, relying on the strong interactions between the amorphous carbon and activated carbon.

According to our information, LG Electronics is aiming to start supplying CVD graphene materials worldwide soon, with an aim to accelerate the adoption of CVD graphene in various applications. LG is collaborating with research groups to identify new applications for graphene sheets.

LG Electronics developed its own roll-to-roll production process in addition to a specific quality control system for its graphene. LG says that its inspection system can manage uniformity deviations in crystal size, defects and electrical properties in its graphene to within 10%.