Polish scientists develop revolutionary graphene machine

Model of graphene structure Photo: AlexanderAlUS/wikipedia

Researchers from the Institute of Electronic Materials Technology collaborated with engineers from the firm Seco-Wawreick to create a machine which can produce a sheet of graphene with a surface area of 50x50 cm within four hours.

According to Dr. Włodzimierz Strupiński from the Institute this is now one of the most efficient graphene producing machines in the world, and only Japan and Korea have any comparable technology.

Graphene is a form of pure carbon arranged in sheets that are just one atom thick.
Potential future uses for graphene includes smartphones with flexible screens which can be rolled up, home computers which are several hundred times faster than silicon ones, and reduced power loss in electricity cables.

The Polish government has supported attempts to make the country a world leader in a hypothetical future graphene industry, and the first industrial scale production of graphene in Poland was launched at the end of last year.

Currently the usage of graphene is limited by a high price as the material costs 120 zloty (30 euro) per square centimetre. The Polish prototype is expected to be able to undercut market prices and thus allow large scale production.

However as the prototype machine was financed by the National Centre for Research and Development it cannot immediately be used for commercial purposes. According to the newspaper Metro a machine which can be used commercially will be fully developed next year. (sl/jb)

Source: PAP, Metro