What Factors Impact Graphene Cost?

Coal and Related Carbon Resources / Lignite, Graphite, Graphene, & Carbon Uses

Date posted: 11/04/15

Charlotte McLeod reports that despite its exciting applications, graphene is not currently widely used, and cost is a key reason why. Researchers are understandably excited about the many desirable and unique properties of graphene, and believe it has the potential to spur advances in a variety of sectors - from transport to medicine to electronics. While the price of graphene has come down since 2010, when it reportedly cost tens of thousands of dollars to make a piece of graphene the size of a postage stamp, it remains expensive (though specific pricing data is hard to come by). With that in mind, here is a look at how graphene is made, and why the production process plays such a key role in graphene cost. The Graphene 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 is easy to make graphene, but that is not entirely true. While it is simple to make a small amount of the material - anyone with some Scotch tape and a piece of graphite can do it - it is not easy to make a lot of graphene. The Scotch tape method of making graphene is known as exfoliation, and there are other ways to create graphene via exfoliation as well. For instance, a diamond wedge can be used to cleave layers from graphene. But what are some other ways of making graphene? Currently, the most popular method is chemical vapor deposition (CVD). As the cited Atlantic article explains, the 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 is difficult to create a totally uniform layer of graphene on a substrate. Good read ... read on.