Collaborative R&D venture into graphene foam
Universities in Manchester, UK, and Abu Dhabi, UAE, are preparing to collaborate in the production of a graphene-based foam that they believe could augment its electronic properties.
One project involves researchers from both institutions developing affordable ink-based printing techniques designed for the challenging energy and military sectors, whose electronics applications are often undertaken under high temperature conditions, which is why graphene-based foam “packaging” is used to protect the otherwise two-dimensional surface of the nanomaterial.
Professor Brian Derby of Manchester University said: “The advantage of using a 2D material like graphene in battery electrodes, for example, is that it has a very high surface area, and yet is only one atom thick. But in order for the material to be useful, the atom-thick layers have to be packaged in a 3D object.
“We’re trying to develop ways of packaging these materials so that they assemble in space, but hold their surface area as much as possible.”
Alongside the creation of a graphene-based foam as packaging, the research team will investigate the use of composite materials in which ultra-thin graphene flakes are dispersed within a polymer matrix, which, according to Derby, will allow efficient removal of stress “from the polymer to the graphene flakes, creating a stronger, but still workable composite”.
