The origins of graphene

Graphene's origin story is by now well known. The 2D material was first produced in 2004, when two professors at the University of Manchester used Scotch tape to peel flakes of it off a chunk of graphite.

The story gives the impression that it's easy to make graphene, but that's not entirely true. An article published by the Atlantic back in 2014 sums up the situation well: By using the Scotch tape method it's possible to produce a very small amount of graphene; however, the material's myriad applications "require more than a tiny flake of graphene, and scaling up production requires something other than a really big piece of Scotch tape."

How graphene is made

The Scotch tape method of making graphene is known as exfoliation, and there are other ways to create graphene via exfoliated graphite as well. For instance, a diamond wedge can cleave graphene layers.

But what are some other ways of making graphene? Currently, the most popular method is chemical vapor deposition (CVD). As the Atlantic explains, the deposition process involves a mix of gases reacting with a surface to create a graphene layer. The process creates high-quality graphene, but the graphene is often damaged when it comes time to detach it from its substrate.

Looking at the process in greater depth, Graphenea states that another problem with CVD is that it's difficult to create a totally uniform layer of graphene on a substrate.

Graphenea also notes that much work is being put into reducing problems with CVD. For example, scientists are experimenting with treating the substrate before the reaction that creates graphene takes place. Even so, it's expected that it will take a long time for the wrinkles to be smoothed out.

The Graphene Flagship identifies a number of other ways of making graphene as well, including direct chemical synthesis; the material can also be made by putting natural graphite in a solution.

Some of the latest innovations in graphene creation don't involve the use of chemicals and can be conducted in the open air, as opposed to in vacuums. One method that was patented in 2017 is able to create larger quantities of graphene using acetylene, oxygen and a spark plug.

Unfortunately, this process creates unrefined chunks of material and not sheets, meaning more money must be spent to make the graphene chunks useable.

Graphene cost factors

Getting an understanding of how graphene is produced is crucial to understanding graphene cost. That's because the way in which graphene is made relates to how much it ultimately costs.

As Graphenea explains in another article, graphene cost is linked to graphene quality. As an example, the organization points to graphene oxide, which is inexpensive. While it can be used for advanced composite and biotechnology applications, it can't be used in batteries, flexible touch screens and "other advanced opto-electronic applications."

In contrast, CVD graphene, which the publication says "offers sufficient quality for almost any graphene application," is priced based on production volume and the cost of transferring the graphene from the substrate on which it is grown. Essentially what that means is that buying high-quality graphene in large volumes is cheaper than buying a small quantity of it.

The issue there, of course, is that with no commercial applications for graphene yet available, few are looking to buy the material in large quantities.

The future of graphene research

Those involved in graphene research hope that ultimately commercial applications for the material will be developed, spurring advances that will make mass production of the material a reality.

According to a Visual Capitalist infographic, graphene products have the potential to be used in next-generation electronics such as flexible and foldable screens, enhanced batteries and "lightning-speed" computers.

Graphene could also be used to create more fuel-efficient cars, faster and lighter aircraft and paint that could end deterioration of ships and cars. Overall, there's no shortage of what graphene products have the potential to do.

More recently, in 2021, the Indian Institute of Technology Patna developed a way to produce graphene using a plasma gun that may prove to be a cheaper, yet scalable route to producing high-quality graphene material. This method has been shown to produce single-layer graphene 85 percent of the time without hazardous chemicals or expensive solvents. Estimates show this method costs about US$1.12 per gram of graphene.

Techradar has highlighted 40 ways that graphene could disrupt a number of industries, discussing how it is currently being used in the Huawei Mate 20 X to help prevent the phone from overheating.

Another example is its use in Italcementi's "conductive cement," which is made with graphene and conducts electricity without the use of electrical cables. Graphene could even be used to dramatically improve solar cells in the future, because it could be almost four times as inexpensive to manufacture.

In terms of market growth, according to Grand View Research, the graphene market saw revenues of US$78.7 million in 2019 and is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 38.7 percent between 2020 and 2027 to reach US$1.08 billion. Multinational companies are the core drivers of demand for the material.