IDTechEx recently attended the Mobile World Congress and visited the graphene flagship booth (pictured), which consisted of a number of graphene companies highlighting their latest work. Here are some of the highlights.
Graphene display
GIMOD is a spin out from TU Delft, having developed a graphene based display. The display, which is reflective (reflects rather than emits light), works on the basis of light interference, allowing one pixel to potentially show the full range of color. It's early days but several working pixels were demonstrated (pictured magnified on the screen below), with the potential for it to be lower cost and lower power than other interference reflective displays.
Graphene in Sensors
Several organizations showed graphene used as part of sensors. Emberion has developed a photo detector based on graphene, which aims to detect light of wavelength 400nm to 1600nm. The broad range will mean that two separate photodetectors often used today to achieve that can be replaced by one. The company, which has its initial roots in Nokia, is showing research prototypes now to potential customers.
IIT Graphene demonstrated a graphene based sensor used in an armband to control a prosthetic. The reason for using graphene rather than silver ink is that silver oxidises making it less conductive and therefore over time graphene is more reliable. Indeed, this was a key reason that many cited as to why graphene would be used - due to its inert nature. Watch the video here where the technology is described:
The Graphene Center at the University of Manchester is going strong, with now about 360 researchers. The largest programs are on other 2D materials and structures, exploring, for example, their thermal proprieties. Work shown included a 3D printed material which is an ABS-graphene composite which is lighter weight but as tough.
Another strong area of focus is on the thermal properties of graphene and other 2D materials, particularly relevant to vehicles and this has also resulted in a thermoelectric device design.
The first volume applications were anticipated to be as an additive in paints and coatings and as a conductive ink.
Learn more at the IDTechEx Graphene & 2D Materials event, to be held on May 10-11 in Berlin, Germany. See http://www.idtechex.com/graphene-europe/show/en/ for details.
