Graphene impresses at mobile event
The Graphene Pavilion at Barcelona’s Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2016 (22-25 February) proved that graphene will be increasingly influential to future mobile technology.
A jointly co-ordinated project between the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO), Barcelona, Spain, and the Graphene Flagship, the Graphene Pavilion was a highlight at the MWC 2016, where 12 research centres and 12 European companies with graphene-based prototypes and applications exhibited their products to an interested audience.
Nobel Laureate and co-discover of the ‘wonder material’ Professor Kostya Novoselov delivered a keynote speech as part of the ‘Mobile is Innovation’ session, wherein he said: “We are now part of this industry … It is very exciting for a scientist to go from doing experiments and writing papers to doing real-world applications and showcasing them in such a big gathering.”
Professor Frank Koppens at the Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA) added: “We now have working prototypes, which is a huge step. Whether this will ‘tip’ or not depends on industry joining us for the integration into real products and further pursuing economical ways of mass-producing these products. From what we have seen at MWC, industry may now be ready to take this important step.”
Over 100,000 mobile industry professionals attended the MWC to witness innovative products and applications that could lead to the invention of new technologies. Only 12 years after its own discovery at Manchester University, UK, graphene is continuing to impress as a material as it edges close to commercial markets.
