2. Sheets of graphene held together by van der Waals bonding make graphite. Graphene sheets are composed of carbon atoms linked in hexagonal shapes with each carbon atom covalently bonded to three other carbon atoms. Each sheet of graphene is only one atom thick, and each graphene sheet is considered a single molecule.
3. Graphene Market has been gaining remarkable traction, owing to the extensive use of graphene for power storage and composites with a graphene market revenue at USD 20 million in 2016.
4. R&D on this revolutionary material continues with more than $2.4 billion in funding committed globally.
EXAMPLES OF GRAPHENE-BASED PRODUCTS
1. Sports equipment manufacturer has reinforced tennis racquets with graphene to make them lighter and easier to handle.
2. Shanghai-based Powerbooster has collaborated with graphene producer Bluestone Global Tech to manufacture graphene-based touch screens.
3. Vorbeck Materials has developed Vor-ink – a graphene-based conductive ink for printed electronics.
4. Vorbeck has used Vor-ink to create a printed anti-theft packaging system for MeadWestvaco, a global packaging company.
GRAPHENE IN HEALTHCARE SECTOR
1. Graphene oxide is extensively used in various dental care products, owing to its capability to resist antimicrobial agents.
2. Growing awareness among people about their dental health will influence graphene market share noticeably.
3. Graphene market from healthcare sector will exceed a revenue collection of USD 20 million by 2024, owing to the requirement of the product for tissue engineering, drug delivery systems, and cancer treatment.
4. Diabetes monitoring and therapy involves the utilization of wearable and handy graphene based electrochemical devices.
5. These devices are apparently painless, non-invasive, and offer stress-free monitoring, which helps diabetic patients to avoid expensive, lengthy, and painful diabetic therapies.
6. Increasing prevalence of diabetic patients across the globe is slated to fuel the product demand, due to cost effectiveness.
GRAPHENE IN AUTOMOTIVE SECTOR
1. The usage of graphene decreases the overall vehicle weight. Its utilization will improve the fuel efficiency and speed of the car enormously.
2. Pertaining to quicker charging time and longer driving ranges, graphene battery is expected to witness huge demand for the automotive application in the future.
3. The rapid growth of Graphene Battery Market stands as a testimony to the development of graphene industry, which will record an annual growth rate of 35% over 2017-2024.
GRAPHENE IN AEROSPACE
1. Rising demand for lighter, faster, and fuel-efficient aircrafts will also boost the graphene market development.
2. Fiber-reinforced laminates, electrically conductive composites & coatings, epoxy adhesives, advanced coatings, and electrical packaging are some product-based materials that are becoming popular in the aerospace industry.
3. The number of large commercial aircrafts is expected to rise from 1,430 units in 2016 to more than 1,680 units in 2024. This will influence the graphene market positively throughout the forecast timeframe.
GRAPHENE IN TELECOMUNICATION
1. Graphene can be used to manufacture high bandwidth, low noise, and high power electrical components.
2. Graphene is already used to manufacture touch screens and memory chips for mobile phones and other electronic gadgets.
GRAPHENE OXIDE
1. Graphene oxide is a key product segment in the graphene market which will account for around 40% of the total industry revenue share in 2024.
2. The segment will grow with a CAGR above 35% in the forecast spell owing to its extensive usage in electronic equipment, biotechnology, as a surfactant and in catalytic oxidation.
3. Due to a single-atomic layer structure, graphene oxide is used as electrode material for batteries, capacitors, and solar cells. This will boost the segment demand in the electronics and power sector and will boost the graphene market growth in the forecast spell.
ISSUES WITH GRAPHENE
1. methods that produce the best quality single layer graphene, such as mechanical exfoliation (the sticky-tape method) and chemical vapour deposition (CVD), are not currently cost-effective enough to be suitable for bulk production, and are still largely restricted to R&D.
2. The problem with graphene flakes is although they are labelled as being a few dozen micrometres, these platelets can behave as if they were much smaller. Our bodies can usually filter particles quite effectively, but these particles behave in ways that allow them to slip past the filters and once inside can be too big for white blood cells to engulf.
THOUGHTS
1. Growing product demand for manufacturing biosensors, drug delivery systems, tissue engineering, and cancer treatment will fuel this segment’s growth in coming years.
2. North America is a key region for the graphene market which will occupy more than 40% of the total industry revenue in 2024. Availability of raw materials and increasing manufacturing expertise in the region will enable the North America graphene market to grow by more than 35% CAGR in the forecast span.
(Source:GMIinsights, physics.manchester.ac.uk)
