Graphene is of interest to industry due to its potential applications in many fields, including electronics. However, with dozens of companies worldwide using various production processes to produce graphene, standardization across this industry is required.
In Advanced Materials, Prof. Antonio H. Castro Neto from the National University of Singapore and co-workers develop a systematic protocol to test the quality of graphene by analyzing samples produced by sixty different companies around the world.
Graphene shows a large variation in its properties depending on who has produced it and is possibly a reason for the slow uptake of graphene for various applications, which usually require a customized solution in terms of graphene properties.
Using a range of techniques from optical microscopy and Raman spectroscopy to scanning and transmission electron microscopy, the commercial graphene samples were found to have various microstructures in terms of flake, size, and shape.
Dr. A. P. Kauling, a researcher on the project, states, “Our goal is to provide a simple and practical protocol that can be followed for any quality-control laboratory—not only inside universities, but also in industry, helping the graphene industry to obtain the best properties that graphene flakes can provide to different systems and applications.”
To find out more about worldwide graphene flake production and how it can be standardized, please visit the Advanced Materials homepage.
