Lumen Winter 2018 - Flipbook - Page 11
With the world beginning to understand
just what is possible with graphene, the
University of Adelaide is taking a lead to
develop exciting commercial applications
through the new Graphene Research Hub.
through the Australian Research Council’s
(ARC) Industrial Transformation Research
hubs scheme with a $2.6 million grant
and industry partners contributing more
than $3 million.
“Through the hub, university and industry
teams work together on defined research
projects focused on products or technology
development that industry partners would
like to bring to the market,” said hub
Director Professor Dusan Losic.
Launched last year, the hub has four
University partners – University of
Adelaide, Monash University, University
of Melbourne and University of South
Australia – and brings together senior and
early-career researchers, PhD students
and undergraduate students.
Based in the University of Adelaide’s
School of Chemical Engineering, the hub
is funded by the Australian Government
Graphene comes from graphite,
which is mined from the
ground. It is made up of a
hexagonal lattice of carbons in
a honeycomb like structure
one-atom thick.
South Australia has one of
the world’s largest and finest
deposits of graphite with >200
million tonnes, which puts our
state in a strong position as a
producer of graphene.
Left: Graphene Research Hub,
the University of Adelaide
Graphene, which comes from graphite, has
some amazing properties. It is incredibly
light and flexible, yet 200 times stronger
than steel. It is the thinnest material on earth
(a million times thinner than a human hair),
yet it is impermeable.
It is also a superb conductor and can act as
a perfect barrier; even helium cannot pass
through it. This makes graphene one of the
most exciting new materials in decades,
leading to product innovation across a
wide number of industries.
Although scientists have known about
graphene’s existence for years, it was
not until 2004 that two researchers at
The University of Manchester, Professor
Sir Andre Geim and Professor Sir Kostya
Novoselov, were able to isolate it for
the first time.
“The results were outstanding. We were able
to extract high-quality graphene from these
dirty black rocks.
“It wasn’t very hard to convince these two
SA companies to invest in graphene research
and the development of graphene production
processes from SA graphite.”
To date, the Hub has made a strong
contribution in the creation of new protective
coatings, in pioneering the development of a
new generation of fire-resistant coatings and
fire retardants, in addition to new fertilisers,
sound absorbers and electromagnetic and
radiation shielding coatings.
Its highest commercial achievement is
the development of scalable graphene
production from graphite using an
electrochemical process for its industry
partner First Graphene.
“This industrial production of graphene
with capacity of 20 tonnes/y is now in
commissioning phase. Once commissioned,
it will be one of world largest production
plants,” said Professor Losic.
“This is significant because it means that
graphene can become more readily available
to local industries, which will create more
opportunities for new graphene businesses
and products, providing a real boost for
our economy.”
Some graphene enhanced products are
already to market, including flexible
touchscreens, protective clothing and
antibacterial materials, super-fast and
long lasting capacitors and batteries, anticorrosive paints and sports equipment,
such as tennis rackets.
However, Professor Losic says we are “really
just at the beginning in our thinking about
applications for graphene.”
He said the University of Adelaide was
chosen to lead the new Hub because of its
success in extracting high-quality graphene
from samples of graphite, and its proven
ability to attract industry investment.
“After reading an article in the local paper
about South Australia [SA] having the largest
deposit of graphene in Australia, it clicked
in my mind that graphene could be the new
gold rush in SA. I immediately contacted
two local graphite exploration companies,
Valence and Archer, for raw graphite samples
and gave them to my team to attempt to
extract graphene.
Alumni Magazine ~ Winter 2018
9
