North American R&D market to have increased access to graphene nanomaterials with customized functionalisation

Citation

(2014), "North American R&D market to have increased access to graphene nanomaterials with customized functionalisation", Anti-Corrosion Methods and Materials, Vol. 61 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/ACMM.12861faa.010

North American R&D market to have increased access to graphene nanomaterials with customized functionalisation

Article Type: Industrial news From: Anti-Corrosion Methods and Materials, Volume 61, Issue 6

Haydale, the company focused on enabling technology for the commercialization of graphene and other nanomaterials, has announced a major consulting agreement with The InVentures Group to accelerate the commercial application of its patent applied for plasma functionalisation technology in graphene, carbon nanotubes and other high performance nanomaterial systems.

The agreement will significantly increase Haydale’s market presence in North America, allowing the North American R&D market access to graphene nanomaterials with customised functionalisation for specific applications in markets such as inks and coatings, composites and energy harvesting.

The agreement will see The InVentures Group, a major player in bringing new technologies to the North American market and instrumental in the formation of the Graphene Stakeholders Association (GSA) in 2012, promote Haydale’s plasma functionalisation technology to potential R&D customers and commercial partners in the inks and coatings, composites and energy harvesting markets. As part of the agreement, The InVentures Group will identify and prioritise areas of application for Haydale’s technology and engage high-profile organisations as potential strategic partners, customers and/or licensees.

Ray Gibbs, CEO at Haydale, commented:

Haydale’s goal is to be the premier solutions provider in enabling commercialisation of certain nano materials such as graphenes. Our novel functionalisation process enables the nanoparticles to be uniformly dispersed in a target material. In our view, dispersion is the key to commercialising materials like graphenes and recent third party results demonstrate that our technology works well. This agreement will enable Haydale to significantly increase its market presence in North America and Canada. We expect this agreement to allow a greater number of potential R&D customers to test and analyse our plasma functionalised materials for integration into their specific products and applications.

He continued:

We are excited to be working with the outstanding team at InVentures, most of whom have spent their careers developing, scaling, and commercialising advanced materials and understand the challenges and opportunities. Their reputation, relationships, and network of partners and customers, combined with their experience in overcoming the hurdles that face companies introducing new materials into established markets, are expected to serve Haydale well as we look to expand the impact of our technology onto the global market.

Keith Blakely, Chairman and CEO of The InVentures Group, commented:

Graphene is unquestionably one of the most exciting material discoveries so far this century and has astounding intrinsic properties including incredible strength, the highest thermal and electrical conductivity known, and other characteristics that have the potential to impact nearly every industry. We are very excited to be working with Haydale to accelerate the process of identifying, specifically in the North American and Canadian markets, the most promising applications of their technology and materials in commercial applications.

Following the discovery by Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov in 2004, graphene has been heralded to revolutionise the twenty-first century through its exceptional physical and mechanical properties in applications ranging from transparent electronics to supercapacitors and advanced batteries, high efficiency solar panels and ultra-strong composites. However, questions still remain over the commercial reality in delivering graphene and the relevance it has to real products and applications. To effectively utilise graphene and achieve its full potential, it must be functionalised, dispersed and easily incorporated into other materials and structures. Haydale’s plasma functionalisation technology overcomes the key barrier to the material’s commercialisation which industry is currently trying to overcome, offering the tailored surface modification of graphene nanomaterials whilst maintaining structural integrity.

More information is available from: http://www.haydale.com