Graphene detonation technology revolution, business opportunities on the dollar

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In 2016, the price per gram of graphene is expected to drop below US$200, which will increase the market acceptance and accelerate the commercialization of applications such as smart phone thermal film, anti-corrosion coating and battery.




"It is expected that the price of graphene per kilogram will be reduced to 200 to 150 US dollars in 2016." Zhang Bozeng, founder and CEO of Angstron Materials Inc. (AMI), accepted an exclusive interview with the magazine, clearly indicating that graphene will reach an acceptable price in the market. And entered a large number of commercialization stages.

In 2014, the world's first South Korean brand smart phone with a built-in graphene heat sink was launched using ATI. The South Korean mobile phone brand is planning to wait until the price of graphene per kilogram is from 250 to 300 US dollars in 2015, and after dropping it to 200 to 150 US dollars in 2016, it began to introduce a large amount of graphene heat dissipation film on the product line.



The price of the mobile phone thermal conductivity material is the first to import

"When the price of graphene per kilogram drops below 200 US dollars, the first commercial application of graphene is mobile phone thermal conductive material." Zhang Bozeng revealed that the computing efficiency of mobile phones is getting higher and higher, and the demand for heat dissipation is increasing day by day; After the market is acceptable, it will become more and more popular. Since the thermal conductivity of graphene is the highest among the materials known to man, it is gradually used in the field of heat conduction or heat dissipation. In addition, the thinner the smart phone, the thickness of the original smart phone film is 24 microns. The use of graphene may be only 5 microns; that is, the future smart phone design is lighter and thinner, and the key non-graphene is none other.

Aiming at the characteristics of graphene materials, in the future, the huge business opportunities in smart phone thermal film, lithium battery, semiconductor and other applications, Samsung, LG, Google, IBM, Huawei and other international technology companies have long invested heavily in graphene technology research and development. At the same time, a large amount of graphene heat-dissipating film is also applied in the product line, and it is installed on the circuit board inside the mobile phone to help the processor to dissipate heat and conduct heat to the outer casing.

In October 2015, Huawei announced a collaboration with the University of Manchester in the UK to study graphene applications. Ren Zhengfei, the founder of Huawei, pointed out that the current process limit is 7 nanometers, which is close to the critical point. A technological revolution will erupt in the next 10 to 20 years. The biggest subversive event in the future is the era of graphene replacement.

The uniqueness of graphene materials has also led the United States, China, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia and the European Union to invest heavily in research and technology. Among them, China’s “New Materials Industry Twelfth Five-Year Development Plan” has introduced graphite. As one of the key developments of new materials in the front line, olefins were included in the “13th Five-Year Development Plan for New Materials Industry” at the end of 2015.

In the past, despite the development of so many technology giants and even governments, there are thousands of graphene patents in the world, but there is no commercialization of graphene materials because the price is too expensive.

"Two or three years ago, the single-layer graphene 1 gram was priced at 250 US dollars. It is very difficult to test the samples to the end-use system manufacturers." Wu Yizhen, chairman of Anju Technology, recalled the promotion of graphene. Eat the dilemma of closing the door.

Graphene suppliers understand the cruel fact that graphene needs to be widely used, and the unit price must be acceptable in the market.

Under the efforts of Zhang Bozeng and his management team, AMI, which has fewer than 30 employees worldwide, is expected to be the first to achieve the goal of graphene reaching less than $200 per kilogram in 2016.

Considering the pollution of graphene oxide, there is environmental pollution problem, which needs to be overcome by specialized chemical plants. On the other hand, it is also hoped that the graphene supply chain will be formed. Zhang Bozeng returned to Taoyuan to set up a back-end factory in 2012. This factory became a global company in 2013. The first ISO 9001-certified graphene plant was later found in a chemical plant in Taichung to transfer AMI technology to assist the former graphene oxide process.

With the addition of allies, AMI's progress in mass production and cost reduction was significantly ahead of expectations. In 2014, it received orders from different downstream application manufacturers such as smart phone thermal film, composite materials for tires and bicycles, and anti-corrosion coatings. .

As graphene prices fall, it will also extend to more diversified applications. Zhang Bozeng believes that by the time the graphene is reduced to 150 US dollars per kilogram, the market acceptance of anti-corrosion coatings will increase greatly; if it is reduced to 120 US dollars per kilogram, it may increase the visibility of the supercapacitor market; to 100 US dollars per kilogram, Will help expand market penetration in electronic components.

However, at this stage, it is necessary to further expand the graphene application, and the formulation and surface modification (for example, into a sheet shape, a curl or a flower shape) will become critical.

"There is no way to improve the surface, the customer can't use it." Wu Yizhen emphasized that each type of application has different requirements on the number of layers or flakes and curl of graphene, so that the formulation and surface of graphene should be modified to suit different applications. There is a lot of knowledge in this area, and it is also one of the focuses of many graphene manufacturers applying for patents.


Applicable everywhere, individual companies are difficult to eat the market

Because graphene is a powder, it is very thin, very light, very low in density, and can even float. Wu Yizhen, for example, how much do you want to put graphene into different heterogeneous products? How to put it? The experimental phase faces great challenges.

The graphene paint developed by Anju Technology has been successfully applied to the aluminum fins behind the light-emitting diode (LED) lamps. For example, Wu Yizhen, paint is now a more and more common application of graphene, sprayed into the aluminum fins behind the LED lamps, can improve the uniform heat conduction of the lamps. "On the aluminum fins, the graphene material is sprayed to increase the thermal conductivity by 8 to 15%."

However, whether the spray paint can adhere well to the object is not simply the addition of graphene to the paint, which is related to the formulation and surface modification. "Every application requires a completely different formulation, and it can be easily modified. It is closely related to the mastery of graphene materials and properties of graphene manufacturers," Wu said.

As a result, graphene suppliers must try to work with different downstream application vendors to formulate graphene formulations so that downstream applications can be used directly. For example, AMI is developing products together with Taiwanese tire and bicycle composite materials and anti-corrosion coatings.

Graphene has many unique characteristics, and in the future, it will have more imagination space in different fields. For example, graphene is the most conductive material, and when it is drawn into a piece of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), it becomes a wire. At that time, the conventional wire can be replaced.

Wire made of graphene material, which weighs less than one-tenth of the weight of traditional copper wire, is light and tough. As long as the price is close to the copper price, it will be a good application. "The amount of wires used in the world, you can think of this is the industry above mega dollars." Wu Yizhen estimated.

Now a 3D printing company in the United States has also cooperated with Anju Technology to print with glue made of graphene material, which can print out the wires. In addition, "If the wires in the fighter plane use graphene, the weight of the aircraft will be 10% less, and the plane will be able to carry more than one missile. This is all imagined." Wu Yixiao said with a smile.

Optimistic about the prospects of graphene in the field of batteries, Zhang Bozeng plans to set up EnerG Nano, a battery company specializing in graphene materials, and is currently raising funds.

South Korea's Lejin Chemical is preparing to invest in a graphene battery production line in China; Spanish graphene manufacturer Graphanano and Spain's Corvado University will jointly develop the first graphene polymer battery, and the power storage capacity will be the best on the market. Three times the battery product, it can be installed on an electric vehicle for up to 1,000 kilometers and the charging time is less than 8 minutes.

However, despite the huge resources of the technology giants, Wu Yizhen and Zhang Bozeng do not think that this represents the major technology companies, there is an opportunity to commercialize graphene.

"Things that involve technology are not the ones that can dominate because they want to lead, because they don't have money." Wu Yiying, who has been in research and development for more than 8 years and has 80 graphene patents, is very straightforward. Every technology giant is involved in different application fields and different strategies. It is difficult to eat the market because the graphene market is too big.

However, it can be expected that more companies will enter the development of graphene, which will accelerate the commercialization of graphene applications, and the future will greatly change the daily life of human beings.

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