Nanotechnology Now - Press Release: Haydale Announce Breakthrough Graphene Inks Based on HDPlas™ Commercial Technology to Accelerate Graphene Applications

Home > Press > Haydale Announce Breakthrough Graphene Inks Based on HDPlas™ Commercial Technology to Accelerate Graphene Applications

Abstract:
Haydale, a leader in facilitating the commercial application of graphenes announces that with its development partner, Gwent Electronic Materials ("GEM"), it has developed graphene based inks with properties that now quickly enable its customers to use graphene in a wide range of applications. This breakthrough has been possible due to the ability of Haydale to supply quality graphenes in commercial quantities at a viable price.

Haydale Announce Breakthrough Graphene Inks Based on HDPlas™ Commercial Technology to Accelerate Graphene Applications

London, UK | Posted on June 25th, 2013

These new graphene inks enable the commercialisation in the near future of smart packaging, printed batteries, electrochemical sensors, flexible displays and potentially touch screens. The inks are launched today at the Graphene Commercialisation & Applications Summit in London.

Haydale's Graphene based inks were first announced at the Printed Electronics USA conference in December 2012, since then Haydale has been working in close collaboration with specialist ink manufacturer GEM. This has resulted in the rapid improvement of the ink formulations, and enhancement of conductivity performance.

Martin Williams, Haydale Technical Manager and co inventor of the patented plasma process said:

"The development of graphene inks with conductivity better than normal carbon based inks is a major step forward in enabling a myriad of commercial applications of graphenes to take place now. Applications that were previously only thought possible with ‘yet to be developed and commercialised' CVD processes are now immediately accessible with our HDPlas graphene inks."

Haydale's metal free HDPlas™ Graphene Ink Sc213 is specifically formulated for screen-printing applications. It has been optimised for ideal viscosity and solid contents ensuring excellent coverage and exceptional conductivity. The inks are fully customisable and can be modified with development partners for specific requirements including:

Plastic Electronics

Sensors
Flexible Displays

Catalytic Devices
Liquid Crystal Displays

E-Paper
Printed Circuit Boards

OLED Devices
Transparent Electrodes

Thin Film Photovoltaics
Electrochemical Devices

Sample batches from 100gms to 5kg are available now. Technical Data for the SC213 Ink and prices can be found at www.haydale.com/product/hdplastm-gnp-ink/#tab-description

GEM's Technical Director Robin Pittson said:

"Haydale's HDPlas™ graphene nano-materials have proved to be ideally suited for ink formulation. The consistent high quality of the material combined with the range of surface functionalities and the ease of dispersion into the formulated ink base has significantly cut development time. We are very excited to be working with this new material and the Haydale technical staff."

Ray Gibbs, Commercial Director at Haydale added:

"Graphene has been described as a zero billion dollar market, mainly because many of the applications that have been discussed are dependent on production technologies that are yet to be developed commercially. The immediate use of HDPlas™ materials now in place of other future possible Graphene offerings allows many of the key applications to be realised in the near term.

At Haydale we have been working on the ability to commercialise graphene technology for 2 years and today is a significant milestone for us. The key to having commercial products using Graphenes is the ability to homogeneously disperse it into the host material. We are especially pleased that the performance can be achieved with no metal additives. Today, our annual production capability of graphene nano materials is 1 tonne, but is scheduled to increase substantially this year in response to known demand.

The ability to address the conductive ink market now, with a new Graphene product has been achieved through close collaboration with a specialist ink manufacturer. It is exactly that type of association we are seeking across a range of manufacturing sectors where our graphene technology can be applied using our patented technology."

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About Haydale
Haydale, a wholly owned subsidiary of Innovative Carbon Limited, is a global leader in facilitating the commercial application of graphenes. Haydale’s patented “Split Plasma” technology is a scalable and environmentally friendly method of consistently producing high quality graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) avoiding the harsh, wet chemical functionalization methods that are more commonly employed.

Because the “Split Plasma” process does not damage material in the way that acid treatments do, Haydale’s graphenes can be tailored to specific customer requirements.

Now housed in a new Ł1m nano safe production and lab facility, Haydale, combined with a scalable production technology, is facilitating the application of graphenes in fields such as inks, sensors, energy storage, photovoltaics, composites, paints and coatings.

About Gwent Electronic Materials

Gwent Electronic Materials is a worldwide supplier of sophisticated electronic materials such as inks and pastes for electronic and sensor applications. GEM has a production capacity of up to 100,000 Kg of ink paste per year.

All ink pastes are made in the fully computer controlled dispersion equipment which is complemented by an extensive range of testing and analysis equipment to ensure that all products meet the highest quality standards. Gwent hold ISO 13485 which is a medical device qualification and ISO16949 which is an automotive quality standard.
www.gwent.org

About Graphene

Graphene is a form of carbon that exists as a sheet, one atom thick with its atoms arranged into a two-dimensional honeycomb structure. Atom for atom it is at least 100 times stronger than steel; conducts electricity better than copper and has been suggested as a possible replacement for silicon in electronics.

About Graphene Inks

Many of the applications of graphene such as flexible displays or stretchable mobile phones are dependent on the availability of large areas of graphene. While the ability to produce large sheets of graphene and transfer them to a substrate such as glass or polymer large enough to create a TV screen is not currently possible on a commercial scale, inks provide an immediate alternative solution. By dispersing graphene platelets as an ink, large areas of graphene can be screen or ink jet printed as required. The annual revenue for the conductive ink market is estimated at $2.86bn.

Haydale’s HDPlas™ plasma processed graphene, inks and carbon nanotubes are available in a variety of formats.