Haydale has announced that through its Taiwanese operation, Haydale Technologies Taiwan, it has started to supply commercial quantities of its functionalized graphene ink to a major print house in Taiwan. The graphene ink is used to print test strips in the self-diagnostic biomedical sensor device market for diabetes monitoring. Haydale believes its graphene ink is the first of its kind being used in volume in this market.
Following over a year of market testing, evaluation and gaining regulatory approvals, including extensive production quantity in-line testing, HTW has now started to deliver its graphene screen printed inks as part of a recent 100kg order secured from a leading Taiwanese printer. Haydale's graphene ink is reportedly proving to be a high quality, more stable, and consistent product, replacing the established graphite and carbon inks used extensively in producing the test strips for this significant global market.
In addition, as a second phase, it was reported that some customers are now trialing an all-carbon sensor utilizing HTW's graphene-enhanced ink that is aimed at removing the need for the expensive silver conductive ink tracks extensively used today. The outcome is a more environmentally friendly (potentially recyclable) product. If achieved, Haydale believes this breakthrough could have a significant effect on the industry.
Reports received by HTW from printers using its graphene inks have shown an exceptionally low C/V ratio of approximately 0.5%, demonstrating an accuracy rating of over 99%, which is believed to be well above the industry norm.
David Banks, Interim Executive Chairman at Haydale, commented: "Our Taiwan facility is only 15 months old and, from a standing start, has now developed a range of functionalized graphene inks that are gaining market acceptance where repeat sales have pleasingly started to occur. Over the last four months, HTW has supplied over 100Kg of inks to 12 print customers at various stages of evaluation.
Haydale's operations in Thailand and South Korea have also been busy promoting HTW's graphene and specialty inks capabilities and receiving excellent feedback, as demonstrated by our recently announced Star RFID development agreement. All of this commercial activity improves our sales visibility and we look forward to continued success in this region."
Ray Gibbs, President, Business Development at Haydale, commented: "The tireless work from our Taiwanese team in developing world class functionalized graphene inks with a market leading C/V ratio is paying off. Having now established market acceptance with the supply of commercial volume for a high quality printer, armed with excellent third-party test results and customer endorsements, we can also see market demand for this high-performance product in Europe and especially the US."