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Graphene think piece
(Nanowerk News) The Graphene Special Interest Group (GrapheneSIG) has published a Graphene Think Piece (registration required). The document was initiated by the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) to "inform a view on where and how the UK might best gain economic value from graphene related activities."
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 The GrapheneSIG is run by the Knowledge Transfer Network and aims to provide:

  • Leadership and a focal point for the exploitation of graphene by UK industry
  • A concerted resource to help connect and align the developing UK graphene value chain
    • The Graphene Think Piece mentions the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) as a "key UK participant in the graphene value chain and in the manufacture and supply of enabling equipment for the characterisation of graphene which is key to its commercialisation." The report states that notable players in this field are: "Oxford Instruments with an established business in this area and the National Physical Laboratory, active in developing methods."

    Dr JT Janssen, NPL Fellow, commented: "We've laid the groundwork for the first traceable characterisation techniques for large-scale graphene production, and will strive in our ongoing research to continue to improve and refine these. The challenge for industry in the coming years will be to scale the material up in a practical way to meet new technology demands. Development of standards and metrology will play a central role in this process and hopefully will result in many new exciting applications coming to market quickly."
    The multidisciplinary Graphene team at NPL is currently researching new measurement methods for rapid and reliable measurement of electronic, chemical and structural parameters of graphene; these are essential to take graphene from the laboratory to the production line.
    As part of international work in graphene standardisation, NPL has taken a lead in the development of standardisation under ISO/TC 229 Nanotechnologies JWG 1: ISO TS 8004-13, 'Graphene and other two dimensional materials' terminology standard; the development of this standard will support the commercial adoption of Graphene. NPL is also a lifetime member of the US based Graphene Stakeholders Association (GSA), which is dedicated "to promoting the responsible development of graphene and graphene-enabled technologies."
    Source: National Physical Laboratory