Although scientists knew one atom thick, two-dimensional crystal graphene existed, no-one had figured out how to extract it from graphite, until Professor Geim and Professor Novoselov’s groundbreaking work in 91ֱ�� in 2004.

Geim and Novoselov frequently held ‘Friday night experiments’, where they would play around with ideas and experiments that weren’t necessarily linked to their usual research. It was through these experiments that the two first isolated graphene, by using sticky tape to peel off thin flakes of graphite, ushering in a new era of material science.

Their seminal paper ‘, has since been cited over 40,000 times, making it one of the most highly referenced scientific papers of all time.

What Andre and Kostya had achieved was a profound breakthrough, which would not only earn the pair a Nobel Prize in 2010 but would revolutionise the scientific world.

The vast number of products, processes and industries for which graphene could significantly impact all stem from its extraordinary properties. No other material has the breadth of superlatives that graphene boasts:

• It is many times stronger than steel, yet incredibly lightweight and flexible
• It is electrically and thermally conductive but also transparent
• It is the world’s first two-dimensional material and is one million times thinner than the diameter of a single human hair.

It’s areas for application are endless: transport, medicine, electronics, energy, defence, desalination, are all being transformed by graphene research.

In biomedical technology, graphene’s unique properties allow for groundbreaking biomedical applications, such as targeted drug delivery and DIY health-testing kits. In sport, graphene-enhanced running shoes deliver more grip, durability and 25% greater energy return than standard running trainers – as well as the world’s first .

Speaking at the , hosted by The University of Manchester, Professor Sir Andre Geim said: “If you have an electric car, graphene is there. If you are talking about flexible, transparent and wearable electronics, graphene-like materials have a good chance of being there. Graphene is also in lithium ion batteries as it improves these batteries by 1 or 2 per cent.”

The excitement, interest and ambition surrounding the material has created a ‘graphene economy’, which is increasingly driven by the challenge to tackle climate change, and for global economies to achieve zero carbon.

At the heart of this economy is The University of Manchester, which has built a model research and innovation community, with graphene at its core. The enables academics and their industrial partners to work together on new applications of graphene and other 2D materials, while the accelerates lab-market development, supporting more than 50 spin-outs and numerous new technologies.

Professor James Baker,  CEO of Graphene@91ֱ�� said: “As we enter the 20^th anniversary since the first discovery of graphene, we are now seeing a real ‘tipping point’ in the commercialisation of products and applications, with many products now in the market or close to entering. We are also witnessing a whole new eco-system of businesses starting to scale up their products and applications, many of which are based in 91ֱ��."

What about the next 20 years?

The next 20 years promise even greater discoveries and The University of Manchester remains at the forefront of exploring the limitless graphene yields.

Currently, researchers working with INBRAIN Neuroelectronics, with funding from the European Commission’s Graphene Flagship, are developing brain implants from graphene which could enable precision surgery for diseases such as cancer.

Researchers have also developed wearable sensors, based on a 2D material called hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), which have the potential to change the way respiratory health is monitored.

As for sustainability, Dr Qian Yang is using nanocapillaries made from graphene that could lead to the development of a brand-new form of , while others are looking into Graphene’s potential in grid applications and storing wind or solar power. Graphene is also being used to reinforce , to reduce cement use – one of the leading causes of global carbon dioxide.

Newly-appointed Royal Academy of Engineering Research Chair, Professor Rahul Nair, is investigating graphene-based membranes that can be used as water filters and could transform access to clean drinking water.

Speaking at the World Academic Summit, Professor Sir Andre Geim said: “Thousands of people are trying to understand how it works. I would not be surprised if graphene gets another Nobel prize or two given there are so many people who believe in this area of research.”

Discover more

To hear Andre’s story, including how he and Kostya discovered the wonder material in a Friday night lab session, visit: 

To find out more about The University of Manchester’s work on graphene, visit: 

To discover our world-leading research centre, or commercial accelerator, visit

To find out how we’re training the next generation of 2D material scientists and engineers, visit:

• .

Upon his visit to India, Foreign Secretary David Lammy met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and both governments committed to developing collaboration between The University of Manchester , the University of Cambridge Graphene Centre and the Indian Institute for Science Bengaluru Centre for Nano Science & Engineering on advanced (two-dimensional) 2D and atomically thin materials and nanotechnology.

The TSI will focus on boosting economic growth in both countries and tackling issues such as telecoms security and semiconductor supply chain resilience. For the University specifically, the collaboration will scope joint research ventures, facilitate student and start-up exchanges, and open access to world-leading laboratories and prototyping facilities.

The University of Manchester is already collaborating with a number of established partners in India, which has resulted in joint PhD programmes with the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur and the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, which include a number of projects on 2D materials. The University is already immersed in the fields of Critical Minerals and Artificial Intelligence highlighted in the TSI, and hosted a UK-India Critical Minerals workshop in November 2023.

Lindy Cameron, British High Commissioner to India, said: “The UK-India Technology Security Initiative will help shape the significant science and technology capabilities of both countries to deliver greater security, growth and wellbeing for our citizens. We are delighted to have The University of Manchester play a key part in this, particularly in our collaboration on advanced materials and critical minerals.”

This year The University of Manchester is celebrating its bicentenary and it recently hosted a gala celebration in India at the Taj Lands End hotel Mumbai, attended by over 200 Indian alumni and representatives from our current and prospective partner organisations in the country. The University has also awarded honorary degrees to eminent Indian academic and industrial leaders including Professor C.N.R Rao and Mr Ratan Tata.

Advanced Materials is one of The University of Manchester’s research beacons, and the institution has a long history of innovation in this space. In 2004, the extraction of graphene from graphite was achieved by two University of Manchester researchers, and with their pioneering work recognised with the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010.

Entitled ‘91ֱ�� Model: Industry led, academic fed’, the event brought to life how Graphene@91ֱ��’s ecosystem supports partners in leveraging the capabilities of 2D materials – from 2D material research tailored to organisation’s application needs, to accelerating their real-world translation. 

Professor James Baker, CEO of Graphene@91ֱ�� explains: “We offer something unique in UK academia: a comprehensive pipeline for scaling up, supporting industry through technology readiness levels 1 to 7. This is possible due to three key strengths: our world-leading community of research and innovation experts, our state-of-the-art facilities, and our lab-to-market expertise, where we can support industry in developing products with improved performance and reduced environmental impact. 

"Our University is at the forefront of the 2D materials revolution and serves as the UK's principal knowledge partner for the commercialisation of 2D materials. Today's event aimed to showcase our exceptional capabilities to a new industry audience, enabling them to benefit from our unparalleled offerings." 

Over the course of the two days, attendees met academics – including Professor Sir Kostya Novoselov, the Nobel Prize winning scientist who isolated graphene in 2004 with Professor Sir Andre Geim – and application experts leading cutting-edge research from lab to market; toured 91ֱ��’s world-leading facilities, National Graphene Institute (NGI) and the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC); met companies who have already benefited from their partnership with 91ֱ��; and were shown how the University is training a new generation of 2D materials experts.  

They were also invited to the presentation. This annual award, in association with Nobel Laureate Professor Sir Andre Geim, is gifted to help the implementation of commercially-viable business proposals from our students, post-doctoral researchers and recent graduates. 

‘91ֱ�� Model: Industry led, academic fed’ was hosted in the run up to the official 20^th anniversary of the first graphene paper. It recognised the University’s continued role in driving a fast-growing graphene economy.  

The University of Manchester is home to the highest-density graphene and 2D material research and innovation community in the world, comprising more than 350 experts spanning various disciplines, including physics, materials science, chemistry, neuroscience. This community includes academics, engineers and application experts, who bridge the gap between academia and the real-world needs of businesses, and innovation leaders, investment experts, IP advisors, plus operational and specialist technical staff.  

Renowned for rapidly advancing Technology Readiness Levels (TRL), this community is centred around two specialist facilities: the £62m academic-led NGI; and the multi-million pound research translation centre, the GEIC.  

The NGI is the hub for groundbreaking 2D material research, featuring 150m² of class five and six cleanrooms. It is home to Nobel Prize-winning Professor Sir Andre Geim, who, along with Professor Sir Kostya Novoselov, isolated graphene in 2004 and who continues to support a leading community of fundamental science researchers. 

The GEIC focuses on accelerating the development of lab-to-market innovations. In just five years, it has supported over 50 spin-outs and launched numerous new technologies, products, and applications in collaboration with industrial partners. These include a groundbreaking hydrogel for vertical farming and a method for extracting lithium from water for battery production. 

Read more about the event at the dedicated page. 

Visit to contact Graphene@91ֱ��’s experts and discover the facilities available. 

The international team, which also included Penn State College of Engineering, Koc University in Turkey and Vienna University of Technology in Austria, has developed a unique interface that localises thermal emissions from two surfaces with different geometric properties, creating a “perfect” thermal emitter. This platform can emit thermal light from specific, contained emission areas with unit emissivity.

, professor of 2D device materials at The University of Manchester, explains, “We have demonstrated a new class of thermal devices using concepts from topology — a branch of mathematics studying properties of geometric objects — and from non-Hermitian photonics, which is a flourishing area of research studying light and its interaction with matter in the presence of losses, optical gain and certain symmetries.”

The team said the work could advance thermal photonic applications to better generate, control and detect thermal emission. One application of this work could be in satellites, said co-author Prof Sahin Ozdemir, professor of engineering science and mechanics at Penn State. Faced with significant exposure to heat and light, satellites equipped with the interface could emit the absorbed radiation with unit emissivity along a specifically designated area designed by researchers to be incredibly narrow and in whatever shape is deemed necessary.   

Getting to this point, though, was not straight forward, according to Ozdemir. He explained part of the issue is to create a perfect thermal absorber-emitter only at the interface while the rest of the structures forming the interface remains ‘cold’, meaning no absorption and no emission.

“Building a perfect absorber-emitter—a black body that flawlessly absorbs all incoming radiation—proved to be a formidable task,” Ozdemir said. However, the team discovered that one can be built at a desired frequency by trapping the light inside an optical cavity, formed by a partially reflecting first mirror and a completely reflecting second mirror: the incoming light partially reflected from the first mirror and the light which gets reflected only after being trapped between the two mirrors exactly cancel each other. With the reflection thus being completely suppressed, the light beam is trapped in the system, gets perfectly absorbed, and emitted in the form of thermal radiation.

To achieve such an interface, the researchers developed a cavity stacked with a thick gold layer that perfectly reflects incoming light and a thin platinum layer that can partially reflect incoming light. The platinum layer also acts as a broadband thermal absorber-emitter. Between the two mirrors is a transparent dielectric called parylene-C.

The researchers can adjust the thickness of the platinum layer as needed to induce the critical coupling condition where the incoming light is trapped in the system and perfectly absorbed, or to move the system away from the critical coupling to sub- or super-critical coupling where perfect absorption and emission cannot take place.

“Only by stitching two platinum layers with thicknesses smaller and larger than the critical thickness over the same dielectric layer, we create a topological interface of two cavities where perfect absorption and emission are confined. Crucial here is that the cavities forming the interface are not at critical coupling condition,” said first author M. Said Ergoktas, a research associate at The University of Manchester 

The development challenges conventional understanding of thermal emission in the field, according to co-author Stefan Rotter, professor of theoretical physics at the Vienna University of Technology, “Traditionally, it has been believed that thermal radiation cannot have topological properties because of its incoherent nature.”

According to Kocabas, their approach to building topological systems for controlling radiation is easily accessible to scientists and engineers.  

“This can be as simple as creating a film divided into two regions with different thicknesses such that one side satisfies sub-critical coupling, and the other is in the super-critical coupling regime, dividing the system into two different topological classes,” Kocabas said.

The realised interface exhibits perfect thermal emissivity, which is protected by the reflection topology and “exhibits robustness against local perturbations and defects,” according to co-author Ali Kecebas, a postdoctoral scholar at Penn State. The team confirmed the system’s topological features and its connection to the well-known non-Hermitian physics and its spectral degeneracies known as exceptional points through experimental and numerical simulations.

“This is just a glimpse of what one can do in thermal domain using topology of non-Hermiticity. One thing that needs further exploration is the observation of the two counterpropagating modes at the interface that our theory and numerical simulations predict,” Kocabas said.

The National Graphene Institute (NGI) is a world-leading graphene and 2D material centre, focussed on fundamental research. Based at The University of Manchester, where graphene was first isolated in 2004 by Professors Sir Andre Geim and Sir Kostya Novoselov, it is home to leaders in their field – a community of research specialists delivering transformative discovery. This expertise is matched by £13m leading-edge facilities, such as the largest class 5 and 6 cleanrooms in global academia, which gives the NGI the capabilities to advance underpinning industrial applications in key areas including: composites, functional membranes, energy, membranes for green hydrogen, ultra-high vacuum 2D materials, nanomedicine, 2D based printed electronics, and characterisation.

Superconductivity, the ability of certain materials to conduct electricity with zero resistance, holds profound potential for advancements of quantum technologies. However, achieving superconductivity in the quantum Hall regime, characterised by quantised electrical conductance, has proven to be a mighty challenge.

The research, published this week (24 April 2024) in , details extensive work of the 91ֱ�� team led by Professor Andre Geim, Dr Julien Barrier and Dr Na Xin to achieve superconductivity in the quantum Hall regime. Their initial efforts followed the conventional route where counterpropagating edge states were brought into close proximity of each other. However, this approach proved to be limited.

"Our initial experiments were primarily motivated by the strong persistent interest in proximity superconductivity induced along quantum Hall edge states," explains Dr Barrier, the paper's lead author. "This possibility has led to numerous theoretical predictions regarding the emergence of new particles known as non-abelian anyons."

The team then explored a new strategy inspired by their earlier work demonstrating that boundaries between domains in graphene could be highly conductive. By placing such domain walls between two superconductors, they achieved the desired ultimate proximity between counterpropagating edge states while minimising effects of disorder.

"We were encouraged to observe large supercurrents at relatively ‘balmy’ temperatures up to one Kelvin in every device we fabricated," Dr Barrier recalls.

Further investigation revealed that the proximity superconductivity originated not from the quantum Hall edge states propagating along domain walls, but rather from strictly 1D electronic states existing within the domain walls themselves. These 1D states, proven to exist by the theory group of Professor Vladimir Falko’s at the National Graphene Institute, exhibited a greater ability to hybridise with superconductivity as compared to quantum Hall edge states. The inherent one-dimensional nature of the interior states is believed to be responsible for the observed robust supercurrents at high magnetic fields.

This discovery of single-mode 1D superconductivity shows exciting avenues for further research. “In our devices, electrons propagate in two opposite directions within the same nanoscale space and without scattering", Dr Barrier elaborates. "Such 1D systems are exceptionally rare and hold promise for addressing a wide range of problems in fundamental physics."

The team has already demonstrated the ability to manipulate these electronic states using gate voltage and observe standing electron waves that modulated the superconducting properties.

���� is fascinating to think what this novel system can bring us in the future. The 1D superconductivity presents an alternative path towards realising topological quasiparticles combining the quantum Hall effect and superconductivity,” concludes Dr Xin. "This is just one example of the vast potential our findings holds."

20 years after the advent of the first 2D material graphene, this research by The University of Manchester represents another step forward in the field of superconductivity. The development of this novel 1D superconductor is expected to open doors for advancements in quantum technologies and pave the way for further exploration of new physics, attracting interest from various scientific communities.

The is a world-leading graphene and 2D material centre, focussed on fundamental research. Based at The University of Manchester, by Professors Sir Andre Geim and Sir Kostya Novoselov, it is home to leaders in their field – a community of research specialists delivering transformative discovery. This expertise is matched by £13m leading-edge facilities, such as the largest class 5 and 6 in global academia, which gives the NGI the capabilities to advance underpinning industrial applications in key areas including: composites, functional membranes, energy, membranes for green hydrogen, ultra-high vacuum 2D materials, nanomedicine, 2D based printed electronics, and characterisation.

The sensor, based on a 2D material called hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), is significantly more sensitive and accurate than previous designs. It can detect even subtle variations in breath patterns, such as those caused by asthma or sleep apnoea.

"Our sensor is like a highly accurate microphone for your breath," says lead author , a researcher at The University of Manchester. "It can pick up on the tiniest changes in airflow, providing valuable physiological information on an individual, for example related to their cardiac, neurological and pulmonary conditions as well as certain types of illness. "

How it works

The active material in the sensor is made of a hexagonal boron nitride ink, which has been designed by supramolecular chemistry to provide enhanced sensibility to water molecules. The ink is deposited between electrodes in the form of a thin film and then an alternating electric field is applied to the electrodes. When you inhale and exhale, the electrical signal of the film changes based on the local humidity, showing a characteristic “V shape” associated to the full breathing cycle. Changes in the V shape can therefore be attributed to changes in the exhaling-inhaling process, for example due to coughing, fever, runny and stuffy nose.

The new sensor has several advantages over existing technologies. It is more sensitive, meaning it can detect smaller changes in breath. It is also faster, with a response time of just milliseconds. And it is not affected by temperature or other environmental factors, making it more reliable for real-world use. Furthermore, it can be easily integrated onto face masks.

Potential applications

The researchers believe that their sensor has the potential to revolutionise the way we monitor respiratory health, and it could be used to track the effectiveness of respiratory treatments.

"This sensor has the potential to make a real difference in the lives of people with respiratory problems," says Dr. Liming Chen, Postdoc in who has worked on this project. "It could help us to diagnose diseases earlier, track the progression of diseases, and help making personalised treatment plans."

The researchers are now working on extending the technology to achieve high sensitivity and selectivity towards selected biomarkers found in the breath that are associated to diseases, for example respiratory ammonia.

They hope to see their technology in the hands of patients and healthcare providers in the near future.

The National Graphene Institute (NGI) is a world-leading graphene and 2D material centre, focussed on fundamental research. Based at The University of Manchester, where graphene was first isolated in 2004 by Professors Sir Andre Geim and Sir Kostya Novoselov, it is home to leaders in their field – a community of research specialists delivering transformative discovery. This expertise is matched by £13m leading-edge facilities, such as the largest class 5 and 6 cleanrooms in global academia, which gives the NGI the capabilities to advance underpinning industrial applications in key areas including: composites, functional membranes, energy, membranes for green hydrogen, ultra-high vacuum 2D materials, nanomedicine, 2D based printed electronics, and characterisation.

The recent partnership between , the , , and (GGT), supported by the and , has paved the way for the development of our University spinout, Graphene Innovations 91ֱ��’s GIM Concrete in the UAE. The product, enhanced by graphene and made with recycled plastic, promises to revolutionise the construction industry by reducing CO2 emissions and showcasing the circular economy in action. The signing ceremony, attended by key stakeholders including His Excellency Sharif Al Olama, Undersecretary for Energy and Petroleum Affairs, Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure, symbolises a united effort to address climate challenges.

Waleed Al Ali, Chairman of GGT, sees this collaboration as a major milestone, stating, “This is an important step towards using GIM developed technology to build a Graphene-based GIGA Factory in the UAE.”

His Excellency Sharif Al Olama commented on the partnership, stating, “This MOU symbolises how various stakeholders can work together to address the challenges we are facing today when it comes to climate change, this is an excellent example of not only addressing the challenge but rather coming up with a commercially and economically viable solution.”

The CEO of GIM, Dr. Vivek Koncherry, expressed pride in the commercialisation of their graphene-based solutions, stating, “We are proud to see the commercialisation of our award-winning and groundbreaking graphene and AI-based solutions for sustainable applications that have been backed by decades of research undertaken in 91ֱ��, United Kingdon.”

In another initiative, Levidian and Tadweer are collaborating to decarbonise methane emissions in Abu Dhabi. The partnership aims to install Levidian’s LOOP technology at one of Abu Dhabi’s largest landfill sites. This first-of-its-kind pilot project will convert waste methane into hydrogen and carbon-negative graphene, with estimated emissions reduction of around 40%. If successful, the pilot could be scaled up to address emissions from an estimated 1.2 billion cubic meters of landfill gas over the next decade.

John Hartley, CEO of Levidian, highlighted the significance of the project, stating, “The utilisation of Levidian’s LOOP technology will allow Tadweer to clean up emissions while creating a revenue stream from the production of hydrogen and graphene that will ensure that the project pays for itself.”

Eng. Ali Al Dhaheri, Managing Director and CEO of Tadweer, emphasised the importance of the project in the context of a circular economy, saying, “In the lead up to COP28, it’s more important now than ever for Tadweer to become a global model for a circular economy alongside partners such as Levidian, as we create the foundations for a sustainable future.”

These partnerships emphasise the University of Manchester's commitment to fostering innovation and sustainable practices. Professor James Baker, CEO of Graphene@91ֱ��, summed up the sentiment, "We take immense pride in witnessing our partners and spinouts within our graphene eco-system achieve significant milestones, and it's an honour to host their team at our MASDAR building, the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC) in 91ֱ��. These achievements showcase the potency of graphene and 2D materials, propelling sustainable solutions and catalysing innovation and business growth through impactful partnerships. I eagerly anticipate the next stages of development and the successful journey of bringing these transformative products to market in the coming months to create a more sustainable future."

Read more on the individual announcements here: |

• Atomically clean interfaces: The new stamp design has enabled the creation of atomically clean interfaces between stacked 2D materials over extended areas, a significant improvement over existing techniques.
• Reduced strain inhomogeneity: The rigidity provided by the new stamp design has been shown to greatly reduce strain inhomogeneity in assembled stacks.
• Scalability: The team has demonstrated clean transfer of mm-scale areas of 2D materials, paving the way for the use of these materials in next-generation electronic devices.

Researchers at the University of Manchester have made a breakthrough in the transfer of 2D crystals, paving the way for their commercialisation in next-generation electronics. This ground-breaking technique, detailed in a recent publication, utilises a fully inorganic stamp to create the cleanest and most uniform 2D material stacks to date.

The team, led by from the , employed the inorganic stamp to precisely 'pick and place' 2D crystals into van der Waals heterostructures of up to 8 individual layers within an ultra-high vacuum environment. This advancement resulted in atomically clean interfaces over extended areas, a significant leap forward compared to existing techniques and a crucial step towards the commercialisation of 2D material-based electronic devices.

Moreover, the rigidity of the new stamp design effectively minimised strain inhomogeneity in assembled stacks. The team observed a remarkable decrease in local variation – over an order of magnitude – at 'twisted' interfaces, when compared to current state-of-the-art assemblies.

The precise stacking of individual 2D materials in defined sequences holds the potential to engineer designer crystals at the atomic level, with novel hybrid properties. While numerous techniques have been developed to transfer individual layers, almost all rely on organic polymer membranes or stamps for mechanical support during the transition from their original substrates to the target ones. Unfortunately, this reliance on organic materials inevitably introduces 2D material surface contamination, even in meticulously controlled cleanroom environments.

In many cases, surface contaminants trapped between 2D material layers will spontaneously segregate into isolated bubbles separated by atomically clean areas. "This segregation has allowed us to explore the unique properties of atomically perfect stacks," explained Professor Gorbachev. "However, the clean areas between contaminant bubbles are generally confined to tens of micrometres for simple stacks, with even smaller areas for more complex structures involving additional layers and interfaces."

He further elaborated, "This ubiquitous transfer-induced contamination, along with the variable strain introduced during the transfer process, has been the primary obstacle hindering the development of industrially viable electronic components based on 2D materials."

The polymeric support used in conventional techniques acts as both a source of nanoscale contamination and an impediment to efforts to eliminate pre-existing and ambient contaminants. For instance, adsorbed contamination becomes more mobile at high temperatures and may be entirely desorbed, but polymers cannot typically withstand temperatures above a few hundred degrees. Additionally, polymers are incompatible with many liquid cleaning agents and tend to outgas under vacuum conditions.

"To overcome these limitations, we devised an alternative hybrid stamp, comprising a flexible silicon nitride membrane for mechanical support and an ultrathin metal layer as a sticky 'glue' for picking up the 2D crystals," explained, second author of the study. "Using the metal layer, we can carefully pick up a single 2D material and then sequentially 'stamp' its atomically flat lower surface onto additional crystals. The van der Waals forces at this perfect interface cause adherence of these crystals, enabling us to construct flawless stacks of up to 8 layers."

After successfully demonstrating the technique using microscopic flakes mechanically exfoliated from crystals using the 'sticky tape' method, the team scaled up the ultraclean transfer process to handle materials grown from the gas phase at larger sizes, achieving clean transfer of mm-scale areas. The ability to work with these 'grown' 2D materials is crucial for their scalability and potential applications in next-generation electronic devices.

Recognising the significance of the breakthrough, The University of Manchester has filed a pending patent application to safeguard both the method and apparatus involved. The research team is now eager to collaborate with industry partners to assess the effectiveness of this method for the wafer-scale transfer of 2D films from growth substrates. They invite expressions of interest from equipment manufacturers, semiconductor foundries and electronic device manufacturers with 2D materials in their product roadmap. For enquiries, please contact contact@uominnovationfactory.com

The National Graphene Institute (NGI) is a world-leading graphene and 2D material centre, focussed on fundamental research. Based at The University of Manchester, where graphene was first isolated in 2004 by Professors Sir Andre Geim and Sir Kostya Novoselov, it is home to leaders in their field – a community of research specialists delivering transformative discovery. This expertise is matched by £13m leading-edge facilities, such as the largest class 5 and 6 cleanrooms in global academia, which gives the NGI the capabilities to advance underpinning industrial applications in seven key areas: composites, functional membranes, energy, membranes for green hydrogen, ultra-high vacuum 2D materials, nanomedicine, and characterisation.

Proton transport is a key step in many renewable energy technologies, such as hydrogen fuel cells and solar water splitting, and it was also previously shown to be permeable to protons by 91ֱ�� scientists.

A new study published in has shown that light can be used to accelerate proton transport through graphene. Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms that is an excellent conductor of both electricity and heat. However, it was previously thought that graphene was impermeable to protons.

The researchers found that when graphene is illuminated with light, the electrons in the graphene become excited. These excited electrons then interact with protons, accelerating their transport through the material.

This discovery could have a significant impact on the development of new renewable energy technologies. For example, it could lead to the development of more efficient hydrogen fuel cells and solar water-splitting devices.

"Understanding the connection between electronic and ion transport properties in electrode-electrolyte interfaces at the molecular scale could enable new strategies to accelerate processes central to many renewable energy technologies, including hydrogen generation and utilisation," said lead researcher Dr. Marcelo Lozada-Hidalgo.

Graphene, a single layer of carbon atoms is an excellent electronic conductor and, unexpectedly, was also found to be permeable to protons. However, its proton and electronic properties were believed to be completely unrelated. Now, the team measured both graphene’s proton transport and electronic properties under illumination and found that exciting electrons in graphene with light accelerates proton transport.

The smoking gun evidence of this connection was the observation of a phenomenon known as ‘Pauli blocking’ in proton transport. This is an unusual electronic property of graphene, never observed in proton transport. In essence, it is possible to raise the energy of electrons in graphene to such an extent that graphene no longer absorbs light – hence the ‘blocking’. The researchers demonstrate that the same blocking takes place in light-driven proton transport by raising the energy of electrons in graphene. This unexpected observation demonstrates that graphene’s electronic properties are important to its proton permeation properties.

Dr. Shiqi Huang co-first author of the work said, “We were surprised that the photo response of our proton conducting devices could be explained by the Pauli blocking mechanism, which so far had only been seen in electronic measurements. This provides insight into how protons, electrons and photons interact in atomically thin interfaces”.

“In our devices, graphene is being effectively bombarded with protons, which pierce its electronic cloud. We were surprised to see that photo-excited electrons could control this flow of protons”, commented Dr. Eoin Griffin co-first author.

Advanced materials is one of The University of Manchester’s research beacons - examples of pioneering discoveries, interdisciplinary collaboration and cross-sector partnerships tackling some of the planet's biggest questions. 

When Gerdau sought an ideal location to work on disruptive ideas and solutions with the foremost experts in the field, the choice was clear—91ֱ��, a city renowned as the "home of graphene" and a historical hotbed of innovation since the industrial revolution. Gerdau's strategic plan laid the foundation for this momentous collaboration, with a vision to diversify revenue streams through new businesses and products complementary to their core steel chain. Among these value-adding components, graphene stood out as a material with transformative potential.

Joining hands with the GEIC in early 2019, Gerdau became an early adopter in the commercialisation journey of graphene and Gerdau Graphene emerged as the group's first advanced materials business, operating independently with its own governance and resources to foster rapid and autonomous growth. The collaboration, underscored by Gerdau's strategic decision to deploy its Research and Development team to the GEIC, not only fuelled technical innovation but also expedited their prototyping processes. The knowledge and resources from the GEIC played a pivotal role in this advancement, and the company witnessed a significant share of revenues.

James Baker, CEO of Graphene@91ֱ�� and Professor of Practice, said:

"Having Gerdau as a partner to the GEIC has been rewarding for all concerned – this is a company that has a strong heritage and also continues to pioneer through Gerdau Graphene. Gerdau’s work to functionalise graphene has created a supply of material that is industry-ready and is tuned to optimise performance in the specific application requested by the customer, and we are delighted that the partnership has been part of this journey.

The unique advantage of being located here in 91ֱ��, has enabled Gerdau to tap into the cutting-edge knowledge and resources available at the GEIC and the broader University, expediting our prototyping processes and creating an entirely new portfolio of graphene-enhanced additives and materials, opening up new markets and commercialisation opportunities."

The collaboration has allowed Gerdau to  extend applications of graphene to products within Gerdau's broader "ecosystem," reaching beyond the steel industry. The initial commercial applications were implemented in maintenance paints for the 16 Brazilian factories, packaging for construction nails, and mineral additives for projects involving key customers and partners in the state of Minas Gerais, located in the southeastern region of the country.

Alexandre Corrêa, Executive Director of Gerdau Graphene,  also shared his satisfaction for the ongoing partnership: "Our partnership with the GEIC marked our starting point in this journey into specialty chemicals and the development of novel additives with graphene. Our first research into material dispersion and our first application development into industrial paints were all started at the GEIC. From these projects we expanded into a vast network of over 6 laboratories in the UK and Brazil and strategic partnerships with clients and graphene suppliers having 91ֱ�� and the GEIC as a critical hub for our technical development. This network has turned graphene into a reality here in Latin America, leading to the development of several novel family of Additives and Masterbatches which we are currently selling in the region."

Gerdau Graphene has positioned itself as the first solution provider and developer of industrial scale additives focused on the incorporation of graphene in the Americas, bringing a unique blend of products and services to the market. This strategic move enables the company to make significant contributions to the development of graphene-enhanced products including polymers, paints and coatings, mineral additives, chemical additives, lubricants, and masterbatches. The incorporation of graphene in their products gives Gerdau Graphene a competitive edge, ensuring unmatched performance gains and benefits compared to conventional additives, in addition to generating a significant impact on sustainability,

The five-year partnership between Gerdau and GEIC facilitated rapid progress in the development of new graphene applications, showcasing the potential of collaborative efforts in driving technological innovation. Through their collective pursuit of disruptive ideas and inventive solutions, both companies have contributed significantly to the advancement of the graphene industry. As they continue to work in tandem, members of the GEIC are scheduled to visit Gerdau's facilities in Brazil in November, further solidifying their enduring partnership and underlining their commitment to developing graphene applications.

Advanced materials is one of The University of Manchester’s research beacons - examples of pioneering discoveries, interdisciplinary collaboration and cross-sector partnerships tackling some of the planet's biggest questions. #ResearchBeacons

James Baker, CEO of Graphene@91ֱ�� has been conferred the title of Professor of Practice at The University of Manchester in recognition of his significant leadership and contributions to graphene and 2D materials. 

Under his leadership, Baker has realised the ambition of the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC) creating something that is not replicated in UK academia.  

Opened in 2019, a year into his tenure of CEO, the GEIC accelerates lab to market development, seeding a fast-growing graphene economy. In just five years it has supported more than 50 spin outs and launched many new technologies, products and applications with industrial partners – including a graphene-enhanced concrete, which reduces C02 emissions by up to 30%, a revolutionary hydrogel for vertical farming, and a process to extract lithium from water for use in the battery-making industry. It had also created a significant impact on the local economy including new jobs, businesses and in gross added value to the 91ֱ�� region.    

Baker has overseen the consolidation of the highest-density graphene research and innovation community in the world, comprising more than 350 experts spanning various disciplines, including physics, materials science, chemistry, neuroscience. This community includes academics, engineers and application experts, who bridge the gap between academia and the real-world needs of businesses, and innovation leaders, investment experts, IP advisors, plus operational and specialist technical staff.  

This community, which is celebrated for fast tracking Technology Readiness Levels, centres around two bespoke buildings: the GEIC, and the £62m academic-led National Graphene Institute (NGI). 

The NGI is the epicentre for pioneering 2D discovery, and hosts class 100 and class 1000 cleanrooms, creating the world’s largest academic space of its kind. It is home to Nobel Prize-winning Professor Sir Andre Geim, who first isolated graphene in 2004 with Professor Sir Kostya Novoselov and who continues to support a world-leading community of fundamental science researchers. 

By driving the University’s reputation for commercialisation, Baker has ensured 91ֱ�� has maintained its reputation at the forefront of the global materials research revolution. This reputation has resulted in ambitious collaboration, such as the partnership with Khalifa University, to tackle the global challenges of water filtration and desalination, construction, energy storage, and lightweighting of materials. 

Professor Luke Georghiou, Deputy President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor at The University of Manchester, said: “The isolation of graphene at the University in 2004 created the opportunity to transform a wide range of sectors through its application. James has played a key role in establishing the pathway to commercialisation and social benefit and anchoring that in the home of graphene.

“As a result of his leadership, our University is firmly at the heart of the graphene lab-to-market success story and is the UK’s lead knowledge partner in the commercialisation of 2D materials.” 

James Baker, CEO at Graphene@91ֱ��, added: “I am honoured and humbled to receive this title, not least because the success of Graphene@91ֱ�� has been built on the backs and brains for a university-wide community of innovators and pioneers. I am lucky to be counted among them. 

“While it's nice to reflect,  now is the time to embark on the next chapter. We have proven graphene can deliver prosperity and progress. Now, we have to accelerate its adoption to tackle the greatest challenge of our time - climate change. We have to show that graphene and 2D material innovation doesn’t have to come at a premium but can play its part by delivering sustainability without compromise. Our focus is on driving innovation in support of sustainability and working in partnerships with governments, small businesses and large industry partners, including at COP28.” 

The title of Professor in Practice is bestowed upon experienced professionals, who share their skills and knowledge. They allow universities to directly connect with business practice and public policy, to enable actionable, positive impact on society. 

Baker has led the business-facing development of graphene and 2D materials at The University of Manchester since 2018. 

He joined The University of Manchester in 2014 as the Graphene Business Director at the NGI. Previously, he spent 25 years in industry where, most recently, he was Vice-President of Technology Collaboration Programmes and Managing Director of the Advanced Technology Centres for in the UK. 

Nanofluidics, the study of fluids confined within ultra-small spaces, offers insights into the behaviour of liquids on a nanometer scale. However, exploring the movement of individual molecules in such confined environments has been challenging due to the limitations of conventional microscopy techniques. This obstacle prevented real-time sensing and imaging, leaving significant gaps in our knowledge of molecular properties in confinement.

A team led by Professor Radha Boya in the Department of Physics at The University of Manchester makes nanochannels which are only one-atom to few-atom thin using two-dimensional materials as building blocks.

Prof Boya said: “Seeing is believing, but it is not easy to see confinement effects at this scale. We make these extremely thin slit-like channels, and the current study shows an elegant way to visualise them by super-resolution microscopy.”

The study's findings are published in the journal .

The partnership with the EPFL team allowed for optical probing of these systems, uncovering hints of liquid ordering induced by confinement.

Thanks to an unexpected property of boron nitride, a graphene-like 2D material which possesses a remarkable ability to emit light when in contact with liquids, researchers at EPFL's Laboratory of Nanoscale Biology (LBEN) have succeeded in directly observing and tracing the paths of individual molecules within nanofluidic structures.

This revelation opens the door to a deeper understanding of the behaviours of ions and molecules in conditions that mimic biological systems.

Professor Aleksandra Radenovic, head of LBEN, explains: "Advancements in fabrication and material science have empowered us to control fluidic and ionic transport on the nanoscale. Yet, our understanding of nanofluidic systems remained limited, as conventional light microscopy couldn't penetrate structures below the diffraction limit. Our research now shines a light on nanofluidics, offering insights into a realm that was largely uncharted until now."

This newfound understanding of molecular properties has exciting applications, including the potential to directly image emerging nanofluidic systems, where liquids exhibit unconventional behaviours under pressure or voltage stimuli.

The research's core lies in the fluorescence originating from single-photon emitters at the hexagonal boron nitride's surface.

Doctoral student Nathan Ronceray, from LBEN, said: “This fluorescence activation came unexpected as neither hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) nor the liquid exhibit visible-range fluorescence on their own. It most likely arises from molecules interacting with surface defects on the hBN crystal, but we are still not certain of the exact mechanism,”

Dr Yi You, a post-doc from The University of Manchester engineered the nanochannels such that the confining liquids mere nanometers from the hBN surface which has some defects.

Surface defects can be missing atoms in the crystalline structure, whose properties differ from the original material, granting them the ability to emit light when they interact with certain molecules.

The researchers further observed that when a defect turns off, one of its neighbours lights up, because the molecule bound to the first site hopped to the second. Step by step, this enables reconstructing entire molecular trajectories.

Using a combination of microscopy techniques, the team monitored colour changes to successfully demonstrate that these light emitters emit photons one at a time, offering pinpoint information about their immediate surroundings within around one nanometer. This breakthrough enables the use of these emitters as nanoscale probes, shedding light on the arrangement of molecules within confined nanometre spaces.

The potential for this discovery is far-reaching. Nathan Ronceray envisions applications beyond passive sensing.

He said: “We have primarily been watching the behaviour of molecules with hBN without actively interacting with, but we think it could be used to visualize nanoscale flows caused by pressure or electric fields.

“This could lead to more dynamic applications in the future for optical imaging and sensing, providing unprecedented insights into the intricate behaviours of molecules within these confined spaces.”

The project received funding from the European Research Council, Royal Society University Research Fellowship, Royal Society International Exchanges Award and EPSRC New Horizons grant.

A decade ago, scientists at The University of Manchester demonstrated that graphene is permeable to protons, nuclei of hydrogen atoms. The unexpected result started a debate in the community because theory predicted that it would take billions of years for a proton to permeate through graphene’s dense crystalline structure. This had led to suggestions that protons permeate not through the crystal lattice itself, but through the pinholes in its structure.

Now, writing in , a collaboration between the University of Warwick, led by Prof Patrick Unwin, and The University of Manchester, led by Dr Marcelo Lozada-Hidalgo and Prof Andre Geim, report ultra-high spatial resolution measurements of proton transport through graphene and prove that perfect graphene crystals are permeable to protons. Unexpectedly, protons are strongly accelerated around nanoscale wrinkles and ripples in the crystal.

The discovery has the potential to accelerate the hydrogen economy. Expensive catalysts and membranes, sometimes with significant environmental footprint, currently used to generate and utilise hydrogen could be replaced with more sustainable 2D crystals, reducing carbon emissions, and contributing to Net Zero through the generation of green hydrogen.

The team used a technique known as to measure minute proton currents collected from nanometre-sized areas. This allowed the researchers to visualise the spatial distribution of proton currents through graphene membranes. If proton transport took place through holes as some scientists speculated, the currents would be concentrated in a few isolated spots. No such isolated spots were found, which ruled out the presence of holes in the graphene membranes.

Drs Segun Wahab and Enrico Daviddi, leading authors of the paper, commented: “We were surprised to see absolutely no defects in the graphene crystals. Our results provide microscopic proof that graphene is intrinsically permeable to protons.”

Unexpectedly, the proton currents were found to be accelerated around nanometre-sized wrinkles in the crystals. The scientists found that this arises because the wrinkles effectively ‘stretch’ the graphene lattice, thus providing a larger space for protons to permeate through the pristine crystal lattice. This observation now reconciles the experiment and theory.

Dr Lozada-Hidalgo said: “We are effectively stretching an atomic scale mesh and observing a higher current through the stretched interatomic spaces in this mesh – mind-boggling.”

Prof Unwin commented: “These results showcase SECCM, developed in our lab, as a powerful technique to obtain microscopic insights into electrochemical interfaces, which opens up exciting possibilities for the design of next-generation membranes and separators involving protons.”

The authors are excited about the potential of this discovery to enable new hydrogen-based technologies.

Dr Lozada-Hidalgo said, "Exploiting the catalytic activity of ripples and wrinkles in 2D crystals is a fundamentally new way to accelerate ion transport and chemical reactions. This could lead to the development of low-cost catalysts for hydrogen-related technologies."

Advanced materials is one of The University of Manchester’s research beacons - examples of pioneering discoveries, interdisciplinary collaboration and cross-sector partnerships tackling some of the planet's biggest questions. 

The Mayor of Greater 91ֱ��, Andy Burnham, inaugurated the conference, which sees more than 30 companies exhibiting their revolutionary graphene technologies. More than 200 experts from academia and industry will also deliver lectures at the conference. 

“We’re proud to welcome businesses and researchers from across the world to Greater 91ֱ�� for Graphene 2023”, said the mayor of Greater 91ֱ��, Andy Burnham. “Our city-region has been the driving force behind cultural and scientific innovations for over 200 years, and it’s fitting that we host the world’s 2D materials community as we approach 20 years since graphene was first discovered. I hope delegates get a sense of the exciting work happening right here in Greater 91ֱ�� to commercialise advanced materials.” 

The conference is held in the newly opened , the new home of Engineering and Materials at the University. Unrivalled in scale as a hub of engineering and materials expertise here in the UK, it combines 91ֱ��'s industrial heritage with new, purpose-built facilities, ideal for discovery and solving some of the world's most pressing issues. Delegates are also be offered tours of the and the , the flagship facilities for graphene and 2D materials research and development.  

Professor Vladimir Falko, the Director of the NGI, said, “91ֱ��’s National Graphene Institute and Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre stay at the forefront of graphene and 2D materials research and commercialisation, and we are glad that a major pan-European graphene conference is coming to the UK, despite all the uncertainties created by Brexit.” 

Professor Aravind Vijayaraghavan, the lead local organiser added, “We are placing special emphasis on attracting industrial and academic partnerships from around the world to invest and collaborate with the University, and this conference is the ideal opportunity for us to showcase our world-leading facilities and expertise in advanced materials and manufacturing which is key to a green, equitable and healthy future for us all.” 

The conference takes place at the University of Manchester on 27-30 June 2023. The conference marks 20 years since the first isolation of graphene at the University, by Professor Sir Andre Geim and Professor Sir Kostya Novoselov, who were awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics “for ground-breaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene”. 

 is one of The University of Manchester’s  - examples of pioneering discoveries, interdisciplinary collaboration and cross-sector partnerships that are tackling some of the biggest questions facing the planet. #ResearchBeacons.

, founded by University of Manchester alumnus, , has recovered commercial grade lithium carbonate and graphite from black mass; a solid black powder containing a complex mixture of metals and impurities recovered from the recycling of end-of-life lithium-ion batteries.

Conducted in partnership with globally renowned precious metal recovery specialists, , and with access to Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre's (GEIC) world-leading capabilities and the support of its expert facilities team, the test work on 1 kg of black mass validates the Watercycle’s ground-breaking technology. It underpins the major contribution that deep tech university spin outs are playing in championing the UK’s ambitions for the energy transition and the attainment of a circular economy.

WaterCycle Technologies Ltd. are a Tier 2 partner of the GEIC, the University’s world-class, multi-million-pound engineering centre which provides industry-led development in graphene applications, bringing real-world products to market.

Watercycle CEO Dr Seb Leaper said, “To most people it is not obvious that one of the main barriers to achieving Net Zero is the availability of critical minerals like lithium. But we must ensure that the means of accessing these minerals is environmentally responsible. This requires sustainable primary production and efficient recycling technology, which is what we are creating at Watercycle. We are proud to be a University of Manchester spinout and are proud to be working with two fantastic northern companies in RSBruce and Weardale Lithium who are making the UK’s domestic lithium supply chain possible.” 

This breakthrough marks the first step forward in commercialising Watercycle’s technology.

James Baker, CEO of Graphene@91ֱ��, said: “The Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre provides partners within the rapid development and scale-up of R&D, the support to bring real world products to market. In particular, the gives companies like Watercycle Technologies the opportunity to bring innovation and research into the tough world of commercialisation, and to amplify prototypes through the conduction of leading edge benchtop experiments.

“By supporting partners in this way, we can also support 91ֱ��’s regional and national competitiveness, in turn attracting world-class businesses and high-quality jobs to the companies we’re helping to commercialise.”

in collaboration with RSBruce, demonstrating the significant opportunity to recover value-added products from Black Mass processing using Watercycle’s system and both companies are now in the process of finalising a developed pilot plan.

Corresponding to this phenomenal achievement, the team have found success in producing lithium carbonate from another source, establishing a step further to supporting UK’s ambitions to produce a domestic supply of lithium to power the domestic energy transition, and the UK Government’s goals of achieving net zero.

At its laboratory in the GEIC, the company applied its proprietary Direct Lithium Extraction & Crystallisation process (DLEC™) to successfully produce lithium carbonate crystals from brines, extracted from Weardale Lithium Limited’s existing geothermal boreholes at Eastgate, in County Durham. 

.

in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the research has shown that graphene with nanoscale corrugations of its surface can accelerate hydrogen splitting as well as the best metallic-based catalysts. This unexpected effect is likely to be present in all two-dimensional materials, which are all inherently non-flat.

The 91ֱ�� team in collaboration with researchers from China and USA conducted a series of experiments to show that non-flatness of graphene makes it a strong catalyst. First, using ultrasensitive gas flow measurements and Raman spectroscopy, they demonstrated that graphene’s nanoscale corrugations were linked to its chemical reactivity with molecular hydrogen (H2) and that the activation energy for its dissociation into atomic hydrogen (H) was relatively small.

The team evaluated whether this reactivity is enough to make the material an efficient catalyst. To this end, the researchers used a mixture of hydrogen and deuterium (D2) gases and found that graphene indeed behaved as a powerful catalyst, converting H2 and D2 into HD. This was in stark contrast to the behaviour of graphite and other carbon-based materials under the same conditions. The gas analyses revealed that the amount of HD generated by monolayer graphene was approximately the same as for the known hydrogen catalysts, such as zirconia, magnesium oxide and copper, but graphene was required only in tiny quantities, less than 100 times of the latter catalysts.

“Our paper shows that freestanding graphene is quite different from both graphite and atomically flat graphene that are chemically extremely inert. We have also proved that nanoscale corrugations are more important for catalysis than the ‘usual suspects’ such as vacancies, edges and other defects on graphene’s surface” said Dr Pengzhan Sun, first author of the paper.

Lead author of the paper Prof. Geim added, “As nanorippling naturally occurs in all atomically thin crystals, because of thermal fluctuations and unavoidable local mechanical strain, other 2D materials may also show similarly enhanced reactivity. As for graphene, we can certainly expect it to be catalytically and chemically active in other reactions, not only those involving hydrogen.”

“2D materials are most often perceived as atomically flat sheets, and effects caused by unavoidable nanoscale corrugations have so far been overlooked. Our work shows that those effects can be dramatic, which has important implications for the use of 2D materials. For example, bulk molybdenum sulphide and other chalcogenides are often employed as 3D catalysts. Now we should wonder if they could be even more active in their 2D form”.

Advanced materials is one of The University of Manchester’s research beacons - examples of pioneering discoveries, interdisciplinary collaboration and cross-sector partnerships tackling some of the planet's biggest questions. #ResearchBeacons

The spotlight comes in a report entitled, which has been authored by Dr Alexis Brown for the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI). Dr Brown is Head of Global Education Insights at the British Council and is calling for UK universities to leverage global connections to help drive local growth.

The report highlights where this collaboration is already being achieved. For example, the strategic, long-term relationship-building between The University of Manchester and regional civic stakeholders plus international partners, such as those based in Abu Dhabi.

This type of relationship has, for example, led to an ambitious agreement between the University and Abu Dhabi-based Khalifa University of Science and Technology which aims to deliver a funding boost to graphene innovation that will help tackle the planet’s big challenges. This project has also won praise from senior figures in the UK government.

Much of the focus of this international collaboration on advanced materials has been around the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC) which is a unique innovation accelerator based at The University of Manchester.

And, as well as supporting collaboration in the Middle East, the HEPI report also points out that the “… GEIC’s development has in turn generated further funding from a range of international and domestic partners, including the Australian-based supplier of graphene products First Graphene, the Brazilian graphene startup Gerdau Graphene, surface-functionalised graphene specialists Haydale and advanced engineering materials group Versarien.

“GEIC will also form a cornerstone element of the new £1.5 billion , alongside the University’s , which focuses on industrial biotechnology and industry-facing biomanufacturing…”

James Baker, CEO of Graphene@91ֱ��, said: ����’s fantastic to see that 91ֱ��’s graphene innovation ecosystem has been highlighted in a national policy report that outlines how universities can bring inward investment into the regional economies they serve.

���� has been five years since the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre opened its doors and our success in taking 2D materials from lab-to-market is clearly demonstrated by the many international partnerships we have formed - and the significant investment that these partners are making to drive graphene-inspired R&D in our region.

“These international research and innovation collaborations are creating new products, new businesses and new jobs. This all adds new value to our regional economy - so boosting the UK’s ‘levelling up’ ambitions.”

Advanced materials is one of The University of Manchester’s research beacons - examples of pioneering discoveries, interdisciplinary collaboration and cross-sector partnerships tackling some of the planet's biggest questions. #ResearchBeacons

Haydale were early adopters and among the very first partners to sign up and join the GEIC when it opened its doors and embarked on its journey of commercialisation in 2018. At the time interest in graphene was growing in the commercial world; but it remained to be seen just how ready industry was in adopting graphene into existing products – or go one step further and use it to develop new and disruptive technologies.

Now, as the partnership enters a sixth year both organisations are delighted to see the progress working in collaboration has brought to the industry, particularly through the adoption of plasma functionalisation technology and commercialisation of graphene and other 2D materials, as James Baker, CEO of Graphene@91ֱ�� explains:

“Too often graphene has been seen as a magic dust that can be sprinkled into a product to transform its performance. Even if you’re lucky and achieve positive results, this ad hoc approach is usually non-replicable or able to be developed with a reliable quality control to earn market confidence.

“Haydale’s pioneering work to functionalise graphene has created a supply of material that is industry-ready and is tuned to optimise performance in the specific application requested by the end-user and we are delighted that the partnership has been part of this journey.”

Alongside their industry leading test facilities, as part of the partnership agreement, the GEIC will continue to use one of Haydale’s HT60 plasma reactors, which has been fundamental in growing the knowledge of functionalisation and its importance in unlocking the potential of graphene and other 2D materials. The clean chemistry process offers a way of activating inert materials, so they perform in application but in an environmentally-friendly way.

Access to unique engineering knowhow, world-class science and specialist R&D capability has seen the maturity of joint developments between Haydale and the GEIC most notably the graphene-enhanced carbon composite body panels for the BAC Mono R road-legal sports car, technology that Haydale has now seen application in composite tooling with Prodrive and resin infusion for sports and leisure. More recently, the teams have developed novel coating processes combining Haydale’s prepreg and ink products and helped to optimise Haydale’s 3D printing product range for volume application.

Commenting on the continued partnership, Keith Broadbent CEO of Haydale said: “We have been working with the GEIC from the very beginning to enhance graphene and nanomaterials and bring them into a commercial space. I am excited to see what the next stage of the partnership will bring. We have seen a seismic shift from graphene push to market pull as more customers know what they want. Customers are driving momentum and together we can continue the commercialisation journey.”

This is a sentiment shared by James, who added: “Five years on from the opening of the GEIC the market landscape for nanomaterials has matured quickly, and advanced materials are recognised as being critical in providing solutions to the big global challenges.

“Haydale’s vision has always been to provide the graphene supply chain with a premium product that can add real value – and they know exactly how to do this.”

The ongoing partnership will continue to build trust with wider industry and provide a solid foundation for the adoption of graphene and other 2D materials as advanced materials become increasingly critical in providing solutions to some of the biggest global challenges.

Graphene, a two-dimensional carbon material, is a game-changing UK discovery and its properties make it one of the most important breakthroughs in recent memory. Graphene is a wonder material, with incredible electrical, mechanical, and thermal properties.

Prizes of £50,000 and £20,000 will be awarded to the individuals or teams who can best demonstrate how their technology relating to graphene or other 2D materials could be applied to a viable commercial opportunity. We will also be including an additional prize that celebrates the University's position as one of the leading institutions in the world on sustainable development.

Applications will be judged on the strength of their business plan to develop a new graphene-related business. The award then becomes seed funding to allow the candidate to take the first steps towards realising this plan. It recognises the role that high-level, flexible early-stage financial support can play in the successful development of a business targeting the full commercialisation of a product or technology related to research in graphene.

The final deadline for completed competition entries is midday on Friday 16 June 2023.

Eli Harari Graphene Enterprise Award 2023: introduction and overview

Join us on Tuesday 9 May and hear from Tony Walker, Deputy Director of the Masood Entrepreneurship Centre, who will give an overview of the competition, and share with you hints and tips as to what the judges will be looking for in your application.

You will learn about the support available to support you with your application and how to access this.

We're also pleased to welcome and introduce you to a previous winner of the competition, who can share with you their experience and how they have progressed with their idea since being involved with the Harari programme.

Key Dates*

• Monday 13 February - competition opens for expressions of interest
• Tuesday 9 May - information session for competition entrants
• Week of 29 May - meet with application experts from GEIC
• Week of 5 June - meet with commercialisation experts
• Friday 16 June - entry deadline, 12pm
• Wednesday 21 June – Finalists notified
• Monday, 26 June - Finalists invited to pitch to Mock Panel
• Monday 3 July – Mock Panel pitch
• Tuesday 4 July- Finalists invited to pitch in the Final Judging Panel
• Friday 7 July - Final Judging Panel 1-4pm.
• Friday 14 July - Winners Awards Event 3.30-5pm.

*timings may vary 

The researchers have shown that the formation of these graphene particles is governed by a complex interplay between different forces such as viscosity, surface tension, inertia and electrostatics. Prof Vijayaraghavan said: “We have undertaken a systematic study to understand and explain the influence of various parameters and forces involved in the particle formation. Then, by tailoring this process, we have developed very efficient particles for adsorptive purification of contaminants from water”.

Graphene oxide (GO), a functionalised form of graphene which forms a stable dispersion in water, has many unique properties, including being a liquid crystal. Individual GO sheets are one atom thin, and as wide as the thickness of human hair. However, to be useful, they need to be assembled into complex 3-dimensional shapes which preserves their high surface area and surface chemistry. Such porous 3-dimensional assemblies of GO are called aerogels, and when filled with water, they are called hydrogels.

The researchers used a second liquid crystal material called CTAB (cetyltrimethylammonium bromide), to aggregate GO flakes into small particles of graphene oxide hydrogels, without needing to reduce them to graphene. This was achieved by dropping the GO dispersion in water in the form of small droplets into a solution of CTAB in water. When the GO droplets hit the surface of the CTAB solution, they behave very similarly to when a jet of hot smoke hits cold air. The GO drop flows into the CTAB solution in the form of a ring, or toroid, because of differences in the density and surface tension of the two liquids. 

By controlling various parameters of this process, the researchers have produced particles in the shape of spheres (balls), toroids (donuts) and intermediate shapes that resemble jellyfish. Dr Yizhen Shao, a recently graduated PhD student and lead author of this paper, said: “we have developed a universal phase diagram for the formation of these shapes, based on four dimensionless numbers – the weber, Reynolds, Onhesorge and Weber numbers, representing the inertial, viscous, surface tension and electrostatic forces respectively. This can be used to accurately control the particle morphology by varying the formation parameters.”

The authors highlight the significance of these particles in water purification. Kaiwen Nie, a PhD student and co-author of the paper, said: “We can tune the surface chemistry of the graphene flakes in these particles to extract positively or negatively charged contaminants from water. We can even extract uncharged contaminants or heavy metal ions by appropriately functionalising the graphene surface.”

Grant Shapps, The Secretary of State for the UK’s Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS), has recently been on a visit to the Middle East, which included the United Arab Emirates (UAE) where he met representatives from a partnership between The University of Manchester and UAE’s Khalifa University.

The ambitious 91ֱ��-Khalifa partnership is part of the Research & Innovation Center for Graphene and 2D Materials (RIC-2D) which is looking at ways to apply graphene and related advanced materials to technologies that will help make our world more sustainable, including water desalination, emission-busting construction materials, energy storage and lightweighting applications.

Grant Shapps visited the state-of-the-art research facilities and on his , the Secretary of State said: “Graphene can be used in everything from touchscreens to reinforcing steel. Made first in 91ֱ��, its importance is now being realised around the world. I enjoyed seeing how Khalifa University is further developing graphene uses for the future, in partnership with The University of Manchester.”

James Baker, CEO at Graphene@91ֱ��, said: ���� was great to co-host the Secretary of State and the UK delegation on their visit to meet our partners at Khalifa University.

���� was a very positive meeting that focused on graphene products and applications. Our conversation covered the heritage of the right through to the creation of the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre, a 91ֱ�� facility set up in partnership with UAE-based Masdar to accelerate the commercialisation of graphene and related 2D materials.

“We also discussed our joint work with the RIC-2D programme and the ambitious commercial opportunities that are supporting the drive towards a sustainable future, including our latest project around creating membrane technology in support of clean water.”

The Kahlifa delegation meeting the Secretary of State also included Professor Sir John O’Reilly, President of Khalifa University; Dr Arif Al Hammadi, Executive Vice President; Dr Steve Griffiths, Senior Vice President for Research and Development and Professor of Practice; Fahad Almaskari, Engagement Director; Fahad Alabsi, Associate Director, Commercialization, RIC-2D Research Center.

During Grant Shapps’ visit to the region the . The Clean Energy Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has now been signed by the two nations and will support the .

Advanced materials is one of The University of Manchester’s research beacons - examples of pioneering discoveries, interdisciplinary collaboration and cross-sector partnerships tackling some of the planet's biggest questions. #ResearchBeacons

NERD is a standalone company, spun out from , formerly Tier 2 partners of the GEIC and responsible for the initial development of Concretene, a graphene-enhanced admixture for concrete that saves significantly on CO2 emissions and overall project costs.

In December, to help drive the programme of research and development required to bring Concretene to full commercial use.

The Tier 1 agreement provides for use of a dedicated lab within the Masdar Building, state-of-the-art concrete testing facilities and access to the unrivalled academic and engineering expertise in nanomaterials housed at The University of Manchester, the home of graphene.

Co-founder of NERD Alex McDermott is a civil engineering graduate of the University and is excited about his return to North Campus to deliver what he hopes will be the start of a new generation of sustainable construction materials.

“I’m a 91ֱ�� lad from Failsworth and I did my degree here, so it’s great to be back and helping to design solutions for an industry that urgently needs to decarbonise,” he says.

“We’re looking to build on the work we’ve already done with the GEIC in lab trials and real-world projects and take Concretene on to the next stage of full commercial rollout. There’s still a journey to go on - R&D in this area is challenging - but the partnerships we’re building with the University and with high-profile industry clients give us the best chance of success.”

James Baker, CEO of Graphene@91ֱ��, said: “We have been working with Nationwide Engineering from the very beginning to help develop Concretene – and therefore delighted to welcome NERD to the GEIC as a Tier 1 partner. This is an important milestone in this ambitious project and one we can all be very proud of.

“In the past 18 months, we have rapidly gone from lab to pilot stage - and then scaled up to create ‘living labs’, including a pioneering pour just outside the GEIC. But we are still at a relatively early stage along the road to commercialisation.

“This new Tier 1 partnership will greatly help Concretene achieve its full potential to deliver a game-changing material to help us build more sustainably in the future – we look forward to taking this programme to the next stage of delivery.” 

NERD envisions a three-year journey to the roll-out of Concretene to the wider construction industry, alongside technical partner Arup – the globally renowned provider of engineering and design services for the built environment - and leading infrastructure bodies including Heathrow and 91ֱ�� Airports, Network Rail, National Highways and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.

These early adopters will see immediate benefits through reductions in embodied carbon, while assisting in the programme of laboratory work and large-scale field trials that will ultimately prove the reliability and reproducibility needed for successful commercial deployment of Concretene.

Matthew Lovell, Director at Arup, said: “Continued innovation in the production of concrete and leaner design techniques are needed to support the construction industry’s journey towards net zero carbon emissions.

“Arup is extremely interested in Concretene’s potential to support transformative change in the built environment. Imagine what concrete with both enhanced engineering performance and substantially reduced carbon impact could contribute to our industry.”

Professor Bill Sampson, Chief Scientific Officer, GEIC, said: “I’m delighted to see Nationwide joining the GEIC as a Tier 1 partner. I look forward to working with them, with the support of academic colleagues from across the University’s Faculty of Science and Engineering, to better understand and deliver the full potential promised by graphene-enhanced cementitious materials.”

Main picture: (l-r) Matthew Lovell, Director at Arup; Alex McDermott, co-founder NERD; Rob Hibberd, co-founder NERD; Dave Evans, Chief Financial Officer, NERD; Alan Beck, Head of Communications, NERD

Hebbian learning is a well-known learning mechanism, it is the process when we ‘get used’ to doing an action. Similar to what occurs in neural networks, the researchers were able to show the existence of memory in two-dimensional channels which are similar to atomic-scale tunnels with heights varying from several nanometers down to angstroms (10^-10 m). This was done using simple salts (including table salt) dissolved in water flowing through nanochannels and by the application of voltage (< 1 V) scans/pulses.

The study spotlights the importance of the recent development of ultrathin nanochannels. Two types of nanochannels were used in this study. The ‘pristine channels’ were from the 91ֱ�� team led by , which are obtained by the assembly of 2D layers of MoS₂. These channels have little surface charge and are atomically smooth. ’s group at ENS developed the ‘activated channels’, these have high surface charge and are obtained by electron beam etching of graphite.

An important difference between solid-state and biological memories is that the former works by electrons, while the latter have ionic flows central to their functioning. While solid-state silicon or metal oxide based ‘memory devices’ that can ‘learn’ have long been developed, this is an important first demonstration of ‘learning’ by simple ionic solutions and low voltages. “The memory effects in nanochannels could have future use in developing nanofluidic computers, logic circuits, and in mimicking biological neuron synapses with artificial nanochannels”, said co-lead author Prof. Lyderic Bocquet.

Co-lead author Prof. Radha Boya, added that “the nanochannels were able to memorise the previous voltage applied to them and their conductance depends on their history of the voltage application.” This means the previous voltage history can increase (potentiate in terms of synaptic activity) or decrease (depress) the conduction of the nanochannel. Dr Abdulghani Ismail from the National Graphene Institute and co-first author of the research said, “We were able to show two types of memory effects behind which there are two different mechanisms. The existence of each memory type would depend on the experimental conditions (channel type, salt type, salt concentration, etc.).” 

Paul Robin from ENS and co-first author of the paper added, “the mechanism behind memory in ‘pristine MoS₂ channels’ is the transformation of non-conductive ion couples to a conductive ion polyelectrolyte, whereas for ‘activated channels’ the adsorption/desorption of cations (the positive ions of the salt) on the channel’s wall led to the memory effect.” 

Dr Theo Emmerich from ENS and co-first author of the article also commented, “our nanofluidic memristor is more similar to the biological memory when compared to the solid-state memristors”. This discovery could have futuristic applications, from low-power nanofluidic computers to neuromorphic applications.

Advanced materials is one of The University of Manchester’s research beacons - examples of pioneering discoveries, interdisciplinary collaboration and cross-sector partnerships tackling some of the planet's biggest questions. #ResearchBeacons

, with its mission to enable cleaner water supplies for the world's growing demand, has developed an energy-efficient and highly versatile membrane coating based around a material called modified molybdenum disulphide (MoS₂) to create an innovative water filtration solution.  

The technology comes from research led by  and , at The University of Manchester, working in partnership with innovation experts at the University’s (GEIC).  

This team has used a two-dimensional version of MoS_2, part of which is a natural crystal with physical properties that are complementary to those of , the world’s first 2D material, originally isolated at The University of Manchester. 

Molymem and its filtration application has been awarded an investment funding package of £500,400. Among the private sector investors are , 91ֱ�� Angels and NorthInvest.

Ray Gibbs, Chairman and Director at Molymem, said this new funding would enable the company to scale up and deliver on its mission. He said: “New 2D materials for membranes are needed to improve sustainability, accessibility and tackle one of the world’s greatest problems – delivering clean fresh water for all.”

“The application of 2D advanced materials into water filtration technologies will, we are confident, help provide solutions to this critical global challenge.”   

Working with businesses and utility companies Molymem has coated a variety of membrane systems and tested the rejection of various salts and other organic molecules, such as nitrates. The performance is equal to or better than existing commercial solutions - but at much lower cost, making the Molymem system a 'greener and cheaper' option.”

Dr Mark Bissett Chief Scientific Officer (Molymem Limited), Reader in Nanomaterials, Dept. of Materials (University of Manchester) commented ����’s incredibly exciting to see our technology, which was developed here in the labs at the University of Manchester as a fundamental research project, be successfully spun out into a company and receiving this funding. Going forward I look forward to seeing our technology have real commercial impact and see our products improving sustainability in multiple industries.”

Richard Lydon, a leading filtration expert and senior advisor to Molymem explained: “Access to clean fresh water is one of the greatest problems we face in the world. Factors that impact on the availability of clean water include climate change, water quality, pollution, and population growth.

“At the same time, water and wastewater treatment plants across the world need to be upgraded to keep pace with legislation and the ever-growing demand for drinking water. This unique technology is an added value to existing membrane systems reducing particulate 'clogging' of the current filter, enabling improved life, reducing the use of chemicals and increasing flux (water flow). The Molymem platform is robust in any environment and can be tailored (through specific functionalisation of the coating) to reject target particulates such as nitrates, phosphates, PFAS/PFOS, dissolved organics, heavy metals and other pollutants, offering unique selling points to meet the needs of the water industry.”

Rajat Malhotra, Managing Partner, Wren Capital and a member of Cambridge Angels commented, “ We liked the sustainability aspect of Molymem and the strong management to apply novel technology into a significant market in need of new membranes to deal with the increasing threat of particulate pollution (especially nitrates) in the water course. We, therefore, wanted to lead a SEED funding round on behalf of Cambridge Angels who were subsequently joined by investors from 91ֱ�� Angels and NorthInvest. This first tie-up makes a strong strategic link between 91ֱ�� and Cambridge to enhance co-syndication between the investor groups and the hope of more to come.”   

David Levine, Principal of Manchester Angels said: "We're very excited to have participated in Molymem's recent raise. 91ֱ�� Angels was established specifically to fund early-stage, game-changing technologies and technology businesses and help support levelling-up for the North."

Jordan Dargue, Board Director of NorthInvest said: ''We were so impressed with the Molymem team's expertise and passion.  The technology is innovative and solves a real market problem so I was thrilled to be able to help the company access funding at this crucial stage.  What’s more, this round of investment for Molymem is a perfect example of how angel networks can collaborate to help Northern entrepreneurs access investment.  I’m so pleased for Richard and the Molymem team and look forward to seeing what the future holds. “

Notes to Editor

1) Richard Lydon is a leading figure in the filtration, separation and membrane markets and is providing valuable advice and guide the Molymem team as it embarks on its commercial journey in wider areas of the clean and deep tech market sectors.

 2) Molymem is a University of Manchester spin-out and has developed and patented a new class of novel nano-coating applied to membranes for ultra-high filtration performance. The 2D functionalised materials can be retrofitted easily to existing membranes, utilising existing infrastructure and a large installed base. The initial focus is in the demand-driven space of clean water, water reuse and species selectivity but with potential across numerous other industry sectors including air, gas cleaning and future clean energy sectors. Chosen routes to market will be via licence and royalty deals with Membrane suppliers, Original Equipment Manufacturers and System Integrators.

3) Cambridge Angels is a leading UK business angel network providing smart capital from entrepreneurs to entrepreneurs. The collaborative Cambridge-based group, actively mentors and invests in innovative teams and their ideas, equipping generations of entrepreneurs to generate returns and help realise their full potential. The group has a strong ethos of backing merit and supporting entrepreneurship. Cambridge Angels members, most of whom are successful entrepreneurs, invest in a wide range of start-up and scale-up businesses with a particular focus on deep-tech, and tools and technologies supporting healthcare.

Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, President & Vice-Chancellor of The University of Manchester, and Professor Sir John O’Reilly, President, Khalifa University (pictured above) officially signed a contract between the two institutions during a VIP visit by a 91ֱ�� delegation to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Senior officials from both universities were present at the signing (pictured below).

This international partnership will further accelerate 91ֱ�� and Abu Dhabi’s world-leading research and innovation into graphene and other 2D materials. The Research & Innovation Center for Graphene and 2D Materials (RIC-2D), based in Khalifa University, is part of a strategic investment programme supported by the Government of Abu Dhabi, UAE. 

Growing international partnership

This partnership will support expediting the development of the RIC-2D at Khalifa University as well as help building capability in graphene and 2D materials in collaboration with Graphene@91ֱ��, a community that includes the academic–led National Graphene Institute (NGI) and the commercially-focused Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC), a pioneering facility already backed by the Abu Dhabi-based renewable energy company Masdar.

The historic agreement will bring together the vision of the two universities to tackle some of the globe’s biggest challenges, such as providing clean drinking water for millions of people and supporting a circular ‘green economy’ in all parts of the world.

Graphene – originally isolated at The University of Manchester, the global ‘home of graphene’ – has the potential to deliver transformational technologies. The focus of the Khalifa–91ֱ�� partnership will be on key themes, with a priority to meet the most immediate of global challenges, including  climate change and the energy crisis. These flagship areas are:

●&�Բ�����;         Water filtration and desalination – graphene and 2D materials are being applied to next generation filtration technologies to significantly boost their effectiveness and efficiency to help safeguard the world’s precious supply of drinking water

●&�Բ�����;         Construction – graphene is helping to develop building materials that are much more sustainable and when applied at scale can expect to slash global CO2 emissions

●&�Բ�����;         Energy storage – applications are being developed across the energy storage sector to produce more efficient batteries, with greater capacity and higher performance, and other energy storage systems vital to a circular ‘green economy’

●&�Բ�����;         Lightweighting of materials – the use of graphene and 2D materials to take weight out of vehicles, as well as large structures and infrastructure, will also be a key to building a more sustainable future.

The investment is expected to be allocated towards joint projects. The full scope and budgets for projects under this new framework agreement remain to be determined in the months ahead. The proposal will see dedicated space for the Khalifa University’s RIC-2D within the GEIC, which is based in the Masdar Building at The University of Manchester, to deliver rapid R&D and breakthrough technologies. Researchers from Khalifa University will have dedicated lab space in the GEIC where they can work alongside 91ֱ��’s applications experts and access in-house facilities and equipment.

Knowledge exchange

As well as the research and innovation activity, the RIC-2D programme will support the development of people, including early-career researchers who will benefit from the real-world experience of working on the joint R&D programme. Also, there will be opportunities for post-graduate students, including the exchange of PhD students and researchers (see Fact File below).

Professor Sir John O’Reilly, President, Khalifa University, said: “This Khalifa University-University of Manchester collaboration is greatly to be welcomed. It has all the hallmarks of a most successful approach to inspiring and nurturing outstanding research, innovation and enterprise in graphene to be taken forward to the benefit of the wider community.”

Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, President & Vice-Chancellor of The University of Manchester, said: “We look forward to a long and productive partnership with Khalifa University that will realise the potential of graphene to address global challenges including water and energy security and, above all, sustainability.”

Dr Arif Sultan Al Hammadi, Executive Vice-President, Khalifa University, said: “We are delighted to enter into this partnership with The University of Manchester and encourage innovation in graphene through a pipeline of projects, as well as focus on transferring technology towards commercialization. Through this agreement, we will continue to not only focus our research activities on existing flagship projects in water filtration, construction, energy storage and composites but also expand to new areas. This combination of virtual and in-person collaborations will also include exchange of PhD students and sponsored labs within the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC) at 91ֱ��.”

Professor Luke Georghiou, Deputy President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor of The University of Manchester, said: “Our excellent relationship with our partners in Abu Dhabi, including Khalifa University and Masdar, has been vital in the success of the world-leading graphene research and innovation activities at The University of Manchester, especially in driving forward the commercialisation of 2D materials in our facilities based in the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre. This new investment will deliver a game-changing step change in our lab-to-market ambitions - and will accelerate the translation of graphene in an unprecedented way.”

Professor Hassan Arafat, Senior Director, RIC-2D, said: “The overarching goal of RIC-2D is to be a catalyst for economic growth in the UAE, by enabling industrial and public entities within the country to utilize graphene and other 2D materials in new technologies that add economic value and solve pressing societal challenges such as water scarcity and greenhouse emissions. Therefore, the center will support a range of fundamental and translational research projects, in addition to commercialization and technology transfer activities. Graphene@91ֱ�� has accumulated significant experience doing the same in the UK over the past decade. Hence, they were naturally identified as one of RIC-2D’s most strategic partners.”

James Baker, CEO of Graphene@91ֱ��, explained: “We have built a unique model of innovation for advanced materials in Greater 91ֱ�� by successfully attracting regional, national and international investment.

“The RIC-2D programme will be a significant funding boost for UK-based graphene research and commercialisation. It is set to significantly accelerate the work that is already happening in our ecosystem and help with the application and commercialisation of 2D materials at a rate much faster than you would normally expect for a revolutionary new material like graphene.

“This provides an opportunity to fast-track technologies that are urgently needed to tackle immediate challenges like climate change or the energy crisis. The University of Manchester and Khalifa University will play a key role in connecting our ambitions by synchronising new research with key industry and supply-chain companies across a range of sectors.

“Our lab-to-market model will link up fundamental research with applied research and ultimately be part of a pipeline delivering new, market-ready technologies.  The programme will also provide industry-standard equipment and capabilities for the rapid scale-up and pilot production of prototypes.”

Graphene@91ֱ��’s world-class facilities and resources are supported by internationally renowned academics and industry-experienced engineers and innovation experts, working across a very broad range of novel technologies and applications.

James Baker added: “Together, these experts will focus on industry-led 2D material development and look to help companies design, develop, scale-up and ‘de-risk’ the next generation of innovative products and processes,”

Fact File - joint R&D programme

The joint R&D programme between The University of Manchester and Khalifa University  will provide a pipeline of projects from the near to long-term to ensure that RIC-2D development activities remain world-leading and are based upon a strong scientific foundation.

Part of the R&D programme will focus on Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) 1-3 – i.e. early stage research and development - beyond which the research teams will collaborate with applications experts at the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC) in a bid to transfer the technology for commercialisation.

The shared R&D platforms are designed to support existing flagship projects, including those involved with water filtration, construction, energy storage and composites – but there will be an expectation to develop new streams. Finally, the R&D programme will produce high quality academic publications that will add to the prestige and international reputation of RIC-2D.

The joint programme will be a combination of virtual and in-person collaborations, through the exchange of PhD students and researchers and having Khalifa University sponsored labs based within the GEIC.

About Khalifa University of Science and Technology

Khalifa University of Science and Technology, the UAE’s top-ranked research-intensive institution, focuses on developing world-leading critical thinkers in science, engineering and medicine. The world-class university endeavours to be a catalyst to the growth of Abu Dhabi and the UAE’s rapidly developing knowledge economy as an education destination of choice and a global leader among widely acknowledged international universities.

For more information, please visit:

 is one of The University of Manchester’s  - examples of pioneering discoveries, interdisciplinary collaboration and cross-sector partnerships that are tackling some of the biggest questions facing the planet. #ResearchBeacons.

The scientists argue that exciting developments induced by curvature at the nanoscale allow them to define a completely new field – curved nanoelectronics. The paper examines in detail the origin of curvature effects at the nanoscale and illustrates their potential applications in innovative electronic, spintronic and superconducting devices.

Curved solid-state structures also offer many application opportunities. On a microscopic level, shape deformations in electronic nanochannels give rise to complex three-dimensional spin textures with an unbound potential for new concepts in spin-orbitronics, which will help develop energy-efficient electronic devices. Curvature effects can also promote, in a semimetallic nanowire, the generation of topological insulating phases that can be exploited in nanodevices relevant for quantum technologies, like quantum metrology. In the case of magnetism, curvilinear geometry directly forges the magnetic exchange by generating an effective magnetic anisotropy, thus prefiguring a high potential for designing magnetism on demand.

Dr Ivan Vera-Marun from the National Graphene Institute at The University of Manchester commented: “nanoscale curvature and its associated strain result in remarkable effects in graphene and 2D materials. The development in preparation of high-quality extended thin films, as well as the potential to arbitrarily reshape those architectures after their fabrication, has enabled first experimental insights into how next-generation electronics can be compliant and thus integrable with living matter”.

The paper also describes the methods needed to synthesise and characterise curvilinear nanostructures, including complex 3D nanoarchitectures like semiconductor nanomembranes and rolled up sandwiches of 2D materials, and highlights key areas for the future developments of curved nanoelectronics.

The image above features a sketch of different research topics currently explored in electronic materials with nanoscale curved geometries. From left to right: geometry-controlled quantum spin transport, spin-triplet Cooper pairs in superconductors, magnetic textures in curvilinear structures.

Watercycle’s patented filtration process can selectively extract lithium from sub-surface waters, such as those found in the South West of the UK. Given lithium’s essential role in battery technologies, the ability to obtain it from water cost-effectively and establish a domestic supply of the mineral is vital for the UK’s Net Zero strategy. 

is a mineral exploration and development company focused on the environmentally responsible extraction of lithium from geothermal waters and hard rock in the historic mining district of Cornwall.

Earlier this year, Watercycle Technologies became a Tier 2 Partner of the University's , allowing for access to lab space, state-of-the-art equipment and engineering and academic expertise at the UK’s leading institute for R&D and commercialisation of applications around graphene and 2D materials.

The ‘Smart’ grant is Innovate UK's responsive funding programme. It has focused eligibility criteria and scope to support SMEs and their partners to develop disruptive innovations with significant potential for rapid economic return to the UK.

Under the terms of the agreement, Watercycle will deliver a containerised filtration system to extract lithium from Cornish Lithium’s project in Cornwall at a pilot scale. The project, which includes an environmental impact assessment, is anticipated to complete in October 2023.  

Watercycle CEO Dr Seb Leaper said: “Having already proven that our proprietary filtration membranes and systems work in lab conditions, we are excited to be working with Cornish Lithium to demonstrate their scalability and accelerate the creation of a resilient, domestic lithium supply chain in the UK.  

"This agreement marks the next step in our development strategy as we look at the commercialisation of our technology, which is capable of treating a wide range of water types and can deliver dramatic reductions in costs, carbon emissions and water consumption compared with current processes.”

Watercycle co-founder and CTO Dr Ahmed Abdelkarim added: ���� is great to be working with like-minded partners, Cornish Lithium and Innovate UK, which, like us, are focused on making a positive impact on the global transition through advancing innovative technologies. 

"Lithium is a critical element with EV demand set to grow 418% from 468 GWh this year to 2.4 TWh by 2030 and we are delighted to be part of that chain, offering a British solution to the challenge of primary lithium production, which is the first link within the wider EV supply chain.”

Dr Rebecca Paisley, Lead Geochemist at Cornish Lithium, said: “Cornish Lithium is keen to support projects from UK-based universities and the companies commercialising them, which we believe have the potential to be both game-changing and contribute to the UK’s Net Zero strategy. 

"Working with Watercycle in the development of a pilot system aligns strongly with our Research and Innovation strategy, as well as our continued efforts to trial multiple DLE technologies at pilot scale in Cornwall to establish the most effective and responsible process flow sheet. We have a good relationship with the Watercycle team and look forward to progressing the project over the next 12 months.”

For more information, visit . To discover how The University of Manchester Innovation Factory helps academic and student inventors create social, economic and environmental impact with their work visit .

 is one of The University of Manchester’s  - examples of pioneering discoveries, interdisciplinary collaboration and cross-sector partnerships that are tackling some of the biggest questions facing the planet. #ResearchBeacons.

The researchers believe that this fundamental understanding of interfacial water could be used to design better catalysts to generate hydrogen fuel from water. This is an important part of the UK’s strategy towards achieving a net zero economy. Dr Marcelo Lozada-Hidalgo said: “We hope that the insights from this work will be of use to various communities, including physics, catalysis, and interfacial science and that it can help design better catalysts for green hydrogen production”.

A water molecule consists of a proton and a hydroxide ion. Dissociating it involves pulling these two constituent ions apart with an electrical force. In principle, the stronger one pulls the water molecule apart, the faster it should break. This important point has not been demonstrated quantitatively in experiments.

Electrical forces are well known to break water molecules, but stronger forces do not always lead to faster water dissociation, which has puzzled scientists for a long time. A key difference with graphene electrodes is that these are permeable only to protons. The researchers found that this allows separating the resulting proton from the hydroxide ion across graphene, which is a one-atom-thick barrier that prevents their recombination. This charge separation is essential to observe the electric field acceleration of water dissociation. Another key advantage of graphene is that it allows evaluating the electric field at the graphene-water interface experimentally, which allows for quantitative characterisation of the field effect.

The results can be explained using the classical Onsager theory, which had remained unverified experimentally in the important case of water. Junhao Cai, a PhD student and co-first author of the work said: “We were surprised to find how well the Onsager theory fitted our data. This theory provides insights into interfacial water, including an independent estimate of its dielectric constant, which remains poorly understood”.

The authors are excited about the possibilities offered by their experimental setup. Eoin Griffin, PhD student and co-first author of the work said: “Graphene electrodes combine three properties that, as far as we know, are never found together in a single system: only protons permeate through the crystal, it is one-atom-thick and it can sustain very strong electrical forces. This combination allows us to essentially pull apart the first layer of water molecules on the graphene surface”.

In the UK, the space sector is worth over £16.4 billion per year and employs more than 45,000 people, while satellites and space tech underpins £360 billion per year of wider economic activity. Globally, projections reveal that the space economy

To optimise opportunities in this booming market, organisations such as the European Space Agency are looking to build space habitats, including a and ultimately . However, these types of ambitious projects will require breakthroughs in new materials to help construct resilient structures and infrastructure.

In response to this challenge, Dr Vivek Koncherry - a University alumnus and now CEO of Graphene Innovations 91ֱ��, a start-up based at the - is looking to build pressurised vessels that will create a modular space station for Low Earth Orbit. These pioneering vessels are to be made from graphene-enhanced carbon fibre as the addition of this 2D material will lightweight the habitat, as well as lending its thermal management properties to help regulate extremes of temperature.

Dr Koncherry has been working closely with global architects SOM, who have been studying the complexity of space habitation for many years as they look to .

As space explorers of the future look to go beyond the Earth’s orbit, travelling from a graphene space ship to begin building bases on the Moon – or even Mars – Dr Koncherry’s colleague Dr Aled Roberts, also part of the GEIC, is conducting research to develop bio-based building materials.

Dr Roberts, who is also part of the , explains that one of the biggest challenges for “off-world habitat construction” is the transportation of building materials, which can cost upwards of £1m 'per brick’. Until the conceptual can be built, one solution, says Dr Roberts, could be using local resources, such as lunar or Martian soil to make building materials. This thinking has led to proposed products like (aka extraterrestrial regolith biocomposites), a material using the local planetary soil and a bio-based binder to make sturdy bricks to build space habitats.

To support this lunar or Martian construction work, artificial intelligence (AI) researchers at 91ֱ�� - who are expert in developing autonomous systems and resilient AI-powered robots - have helped develop sophisticated software to enable ‘co-bots’ to aid astronauts in exploration, in construction and in monitoring these new structures.

This work has been led by Professor Michael Fisher and his colleagues that form the . A specialism at 91ֱ�� involves designing and building AI-powered autonomous robots that can work in the harshest of environment, such as space, and can reliably undertake a wide range of tasks “on their own”.

Previous research in this field has looked to support improved capability of NASA’s Astronaut-Rover teams and the 91ֱ�� team continue their collaboration with NASA. Future manned missions to the Moon and Mars are expected to use autonomous rovers and robots to assist astronauts during extravehicular activity (EVA), including science, technical and construction operations.

“An important feature of the 91ֱ�� work is to develop and apply systems making sure these robots are trustworthy and do what we expect,” explained Professor Fisher.

Once a space habitat has been built, its human occupants will need to survive in their new environment - and NASA researchers have identified hydroponics as a suitable method for growing food in outer space. 91ֱ�� agri-tech experts are looking at the future of food production, which includes the application of hydroponics in vertical farming production.

Dr Beenish Siddique, founder of (below) , a UK government-backed enterprise which is also based in the GEIC, is leading a team to develop a pioneering a hydrogel called GelPonics.

This growth medium conserves water and filters out pathogens to protect plants from disease, while automated technology includes the use of a graphene-based sensor that allows remote monitoring and management of the irrigation management system. This process is much less labour intensive and ultimately the GelPonics system is designed to be used in the harshest of environments.

Combining two strengths – advanced materials and trustworthy automation – to create a USP for space

Space is a fast-growing opportunity for exponential market growth - and provides an arena for the UK engineering sector to apply its world-leading expertise. The R&D being pioneered by experts at The University of Manchester to deliver revolutionary innovation in space habitat technology provides a model approach.

91ֱ�� has combined two of its key engineering strengths – advanced materials and autonomous systems – to find a unique proposition on space tech innovation.

Dr Vivek Koncherry says: “If you want to implement nanomaterials - or indeed the next generation of advanced materials - into space application you will also need automation.

“In 91ֱ��, everything comes together – you have expertise in both advanced materials and automated systems. The skilled people we need to work with are based in the same place, which creates a unique proposition.”

Dr Koncherry has built a pilot digital manufacturing line, designed to handle materials of the future by integrating robotics, AI and IoT systems in his state-of-the-art Alchemy Lab based in the GEIC (above). He has an ambition to grow the manufacturing base in Greater 91ֱ�� and from this provide a model to underpin the UK’s national capability to making advanced products.

"Dr Koncherry adds: “Space is at the tipping point of being accessible to the commercial mainstream - the opportunities this provides are boundless. Just like in the original industrial revolution, 91ֱ�� now finds itself with the right innovation at the right time to capitalise on the space revolution.”

To find out more about The University of Manchester’s contribution to the space sector read: 

This new, seemingly magical application of graphene works quite straightforwardly: add graphene into a solution containing traces of gold and, after a few minutes, pure gold appears on graphene sheets, with no other chemicals or energy input involved. After this you can extract your pure gold by simply burning the graphene off.

The research, , shows that 1 gram of graphene can be sufficient for extracting nearly 2 grams of gold. As graphene costs less than $0.1 per gram, this can be very profitable, with gold priced at around $70 per gram.

Dr Yang Su from Tsinghua University, who led the research efforts, commented: “This apparent magic is essentially a simple electrochemical process. Unique interactions between graphene and gold ions drive the process and also yield exceptional selectivity. Only gold is extracted with no other ions or salts.”

Gold is used in many industries including consumer electronics (mobile phones, laptops etc.) and, when the products are eventually discarded, little of the electronic waste is recycled. The graphene-based process with its high extraction capacity and high selectivity can reclaim close to 100% of gold from electronic waste. This offers an enticing solution for addressing the gold sustainability problem and e-waste challenges.

“Graphene turns rubbish into gold, literally,” added Professor Andre Geim from The University of Manchester, another lead author and Nobel laureate responsible for the first isolation of graphene.

“Not only are our findings promising for making this part of the economy more sustainable, but they also emphasise how different atomically-thin materials can be from their parents, well-known bulk materials,” he added. “Graphite, for example, is worthless for extracting gold, while graphene almost makes the philosopher’s stone”.

Professor Hui-ming Cheng, one of the main authors from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, commented: “With the continuing search for revolutionary applications of graphene, our discovery that the material can be used to recycle gold from electronic waste brings additional excitement to the research community and developing graphene industries.”

Van der Waals heterostructures are much sought after since they display many unique and useful properties not found in naturally occurring materials. In most cases, they are prepared by manually stacking one layer over the other in a time-consuming and labour-intensive process.

Published last week , the study - led by researchers based at the National Graphene Institute (NGI) - describes synthesis of a bulk van der Waals heterostructure consisting of alternating atomic layers of 1T and 1H TaS₂. 1T and 1H TaS₂ are different polymorphs (materials with the same chemical composition but with a variation in atomic arrangement) of TaS₂ with completely different properties – the former insulating, the latter superconducting at low temperatures.

The new heterostructure was obtained through the synthesis of 6R TaS₂ (a rare type of TaS₂, with alternating 1T and 1H layered structure) via a process known as ‘phase transition’ at high temperature (800˚C). Due to its unusual structure, this material shows the co-existence of superconductivity and charge density waves, a very rare phenomenon.

Dr Amritroop Achari, who led the experiment said: “Our work presents a new concept for designing bulk heterostructures. The novel methodology allows the direct synthesis of bulk heterostructures of 1T‐1H TaS₂ by a phase transition from a readily available 1T TaS₂. We believe our work provides significant advances in both science and technology.”

International collaboration

The work was conducted in collaboration with scientists from the NANOlab Center of Excellence at the University of Antwerp, Belgium. Their high‐resolution scanning electron microscopy analysis unambiguously proved the alternating 1T‐1H hetero-layered structure of 6R TaS₂ for the first time and paved the way to interpret the findings.

Professor Milorad Milošević, the lead researcher from the University of Antwerp, commented: “This demonstration of an alternating insulating‐superconducting layered structure in 6R TaS₂ opens a plethora of intriguing questions related to anisotropic behaviour of this material in applied magnetic field and current, emergent Josephson physics, terahertz emission etc., in analogy to bulk cuprates and iron‐based superconductors.”

The findings could therefore have a widespread impact on the understanding of 2D superconductivity, as well as further design of advanced materials for terahertz and Josephson junctions-based devices, a cornerstone of second-generation quantum technology.

Main image (top):  Electron microscopy image of the synthesized 6R TaS₂ with an atomic model of the material on the left. The brown spheres represent Ta atoms and the yellow spheres represent sulphur atoms. The atomic positions and arrangement in the microscopic image are an exact match with the model, confirming its structure.

Publishing in the journal, , the team led by researchers based at the (NGI) used stacks of 2D materials including graphene to trap liquid in order to further understand how the presence of liquid changes the behaviour of the solid.

The team were able to capture . The findings could have widespread impact on the future development of green technologies such as hydrogen production.

When a solid surface is in contact with a liquid, both substances change their configuration in response to the proximity of the other. Such atomic scale interactions at solid-liquid interfaces govern the behaviour of batteries and fuel cells for clean electricity generation, as well as determining the efficiency of clean water generation and underpinning many biological processes.

One of the lead researchers, Professor Sarah Haigh, commented: “Given the widespread industrial and scientific importance of such behaviour it is truly surprising how much we still have to learn about the fundamentals of how atoms behave on surfaces in contact with liquids. One of the reasons information is missing is the absence of techniques able to yield experimental data for solid-liquid interfaces.”

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is one of only few techniques that allows individual atoms to be seen and analysed. However, the TEM instrument requires a high vacuum environment, and the structure of materials changes in a vacuum. First author, Dr Nick Clark explained: “In our work we show that misleading information is provided if the atomic behaviour is studied in vacuum instead of using our liquid cells.”

The NGI's Professor Roman Gorbachev has pioneered the stacking of 2D materials for electronics but here his group have used those same techniques to develop a ‘double graphene liquid cell’. A 2D layer of molybdenum disulphide was fully suspended in liquid and encapsulated by graphene windows. This novel design allowed them to provide precisely controlled liquid layers, enabling the unprecedented videos to be captured showing the single atoms ’swimming’ around surrounded by liquid.

By analysing how the atoms moved in the videos and comparing to theoretical insights provided by colleagues at Cambridge University, the researchers were able to understand the effect of the liquid on atomic behaviour. The liquid was found to speed up the motion of the atoms and also change their preferred resting sites with respect to the underlying solid.

The team studied a material that is promising for green hydrogen production but the experimental technology they have developed can be used for many different applications.

Dr Nick Clark said: “This is a milestone achievement and it is only the beginning – we are already looking to use this technique to support development of materials for sustainable chemical processing, needed to achieve the world’s net zero ambitions.”

is one of The University of Manchester’s - examples of pioneering discoveries, interdisciplinary collaboration and cross-sector partnerships that are tackling some of the biggest questions facing the planet. #ResearchBeacons

The prize is awarded annually in recognition of outstanding achievement in engineering research in the fields of medical, microwave and radar or laser/optoelectronic engineering, with the prize fund awarded to support further research led by the recipient. This year’s theme is lasers and optoelectronics.

Professor Kocabas’ research interests include optoelectronic applications of graphene and other 2D materials. He is nominated for his significant contributions to controlling light with graphene-based devices over a broad spectral range from visible light to microwave.

Outstanding research achievements

Sir John O’Reilly, Chair offor the prize, said: “The A F Harvey Engineering Research Prize recognises the outstanding research achievements of the recipient, from anywhere in the world, who is identified through a search and selection process conducted by a panel of international experts from around the globe.

“We are incredibly proud, through the generous legacy from the late Dr A F Harvey, to be able to recognise and support the furtherance of pioneering engineering research in these fields and thereby their subsequent impact in advancing the world around us," he added. "I’d like to congratulate our six finalists.”

The prize-winner will be chosen from and announced in December 2022. The winning researcher will deliver a keynote lecture on their research in spring 2023.

The IET’s A F Harvey prize is named after Dr A F Harvey, who bequeathed a generous sum of money to the IET for a trust fund to be set up in his name to further research in the specified fields. For more information, visit:

is one of The University of Manchester’s - examples of pioneering discoveries, interdisciplinary collaboration and cross-sector partnerships that are tackling some of the biggest questions facing the planet. #ResearchBeacons

Dr Koncherry, who is based at the University‘s world-class materials innovation accelerator, the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC), is developing a range of products exploiting breakthrough nanomaterial technology.

But to get this innovation to a mass market, Dr Koncherry recognises that manufacturing systems also need to keep pace – so he has built a pilot digital manufacturing line in the GEIC designed to handle materials of the future by integrating robotics, AI and IoT systems. 

“The first industrial revolution in 91ֱ�� was world famous for its textiles and weaving technologies and we are at the start of the next industrial revolution – but this time we are to use advanced materials and advanced manufacturing processes,” he said.  

“So, if you want to implement nanomaterials or the next generation of materials into the marketplace you will also need automation and the next level of advanced manufacturing to remain competitive at a global scale.

“In 91ֱ��, everything comes together – you have expertise in both advanced materials and automated systems. The skilled people we need to work with are based in the same place, which creates a unique proposition.”

This “unique proposition” has, in fact, already helped Dr Koncherry attract inward investment from North America, with $5 million (£3.6m) being put into his start-up Graphene Innovations 91ֱ�� (GIM).

Dr Koncherry and his team at GIM (including robotics expert Jinseong Park, pictured top) are developing a range of products, including mats and floor coverings made from recycled materials (such as rubber from car tyres) to pioneering pressurised vessels made from a graphene-enhanced composite material. These components can be applied to hydrogen storage on earth or creating a habitat for living in space.  

Dr Koncherry has an ambition to grow the manufacturing base in Greater 91ֱ�� and from this provide a model to underpin the UK’s national capability to making advanced products.  

To find out more about Dr Koncherry’s pioneering work and also how graphene-based composite technology is a key to lightweighting in sectors including aerospace and automotive, watch the film below:

Direct lithium extraction (DLE) is a vital process in the push towards self-sufficiency for the UK and Europe in lithium, a key component in modern battery technology.

Led by Sebastian Leaper, a former PhD student from the Department of Materials at 91ֱ��, has taken Tier 2 membership of the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC), with lab space and access to advanced 2D materials facilities and expertise in prototyping. 

The pre-seed funding round has been led by , an investor focused on innovations around sustainability. 

Recovery from battery recycling

Watercycle Technologies has already demonstrated that its solutions can extract lithium from UK-based brines and can recover it from lithium batteries during the recycling process. This investment will allow the business to further develop their prototype solutions and test them at scale at live extraction and recycling locations.

The technology also shows the potential to refine the lithium up to battery-grade, which will allow the processing of battery-grade lithium to occur at production sites around the world. Together, these capabilities could significantly improve the environmental footprint of lithium production for EVs.

Dr Sebastian Leaper, CEO of Watercycle Technologies Limited, explains: “Our lives are increasingly dependent on the ebb and flow of lithium ions. They store and transport an ever-greater portion of the energy we need for our devices, cars and power grid and enable us to transition away from fossil fuels. 

“Access to significant quantities of low-cost, low-carbon lithium is fundamental to tackling climate change and we at Watercycle Technologies are striving to make this possible,” he adds. "We are very grateful for the support of Aer Ventures in this journey, as they share our ambition to help build a sustainable, circular economy for future generations to enjoy."

Chris Rowley, Managing Partner of Aer Ventures, said: “Watercycle Technologies is exactly the type of business we exist to support. With a sustainable vision and a proven technology, the business has the potential to solve one of our major environmental problems – the need for critical minerals to support the transition to Net Zero. 

"With serious commentators such as the International Energy Agency estimating the world could require over 50 times more lithium by 2040 than it produced in 2020, the innovation Watercycle Technologies provides has never been more essential and we are pleased to support the business in taking this game-changing technology to market.”

Andrew Wilkinson, CEO of , said: “This new University of Manchester spinout has amazing potential to significantly reduce the cost and environmental impact of lithium production. It also enables countries with access to lithium-rich brines and recycled batteries, like the UK, to become self-sufficient in this strategically vital raw material. Although initially focusing on the extraction of lithium salts, Watercycle Technologies’ membranes and systems can easily be adapted to extract other high-value materials and be used in applications such as desalination.”

 is one of The University of Manchester’s  - examples of pioneering discoveries, interdisciplinary collaboration and cross-sector partnerships that are tackling some of the biggest questions facing the planet. #ResearchBeacons.

Vector Homes, Genvida and Watercycle Technologies have signed new Tier 2 agreements, while Bullitt – designers of rugged tech for phones – and aerospace giant Airbus have re-signed, also as Tier 2s.

Our Affiliate Partner scheme is growing as well, with HDH Accountants added to the list.

James Baker, CEO of Graphene@91ֱ��, said: “These partnerships demonstrate some of the range of our application work here at the GEIC: from sustainable construction to DNA sequencing and advanced membrane technology.

“We look forward to working with our new partners and also with those renewing terms. As much as we like getting new partners, it’s just as important to ensure our existing partners are seeing success in projects and wanting to take that work forward.”

Vector Homes

91ֱ��-based uses graphene-enhanced recycled materials to produce the unique standardised components of its houses. The company’s products will have greatly reduced embodied carbon and will not contribute to deforestation, quarrying and mining.

The housing systems can be extended flexibly and are optimised for rapid maintenance, modification and technology incorporation.

Projects already lined up at the GEIC aim to take advantage of the expertise of the engineering staff and state-of-the-art equipment to push the technology forward alongside the firm’s supply chain.

Nathan Feddy, CEO and co-founder (pictured), said: “We are delighted to be joining the GEIC at the centre of Manchester's world-leading advanced materials ecosystem. This partnership is a fantastic opportunity to develop the materials and systems that will enable us to achieve our goal of cutting carbon emissions and the costs of construction.”

Genvida

Hong Kong-based combines nanoscience and biotechnology, focusing on fourth-generation DNA sequencing technology. Its globally patented SONAS® platform (a solid-state nanopore sensor array-based technology) resolves the bottleneck in DNA sequencing and single-molecule sensing.

SONAS® streamlines each step in genome sequencing, from smart sample preparation to rapid and precise sequencing and single-molecule identification in a fully automated ‘lab-on-a-chip’. This enables real-time and on-site diagnostics with a cloud-based bioinformatics suite.

Dr Ka Wai Wong, co-founder and Vice President of R&D at Genvida, (pictured) said: “Our partnership with the GEIC seeks to unleash the power of fourth-generation DNA sequencing and single-molecule sensing with graphene and 2D materials integrated solid-state nanopores.”

Watercycle Technologies

Led by UoM alumnus Seb Leaper, Watercycle Technologies is a spin-out company from the University of Manchester developing water treatment and mineral recovery systems for a range of industries, including mining, desalination, textiles and others. The company is currently focusing on direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology to help reduce the environmental impact of established lithium extraction processes such as mining and chemical conversion.

• Watercycle Technologies in 91ֱ�� Evening News

HDH Accountants

Salford-based specialise in the technology and manufacturing sector, advising firms on business growth strategy with individually tailored plans. The firm joins our Affiliate Partner scheme, looking to build relationships within the growing innovation community at the GEIC.

Anthony Hurley, Managing Director of HDH, said: “Joining the GEIC has been an amazing experience – we’ve met some amazing people and businesses and have been genuinely blown away by the opportunities and innovation happening here. 

"We’ve already worked with several GEIC partners, providing everything from start-up advice, monthly finance and tax support through to supporting grant applications. Joining the GEIC has been great for our business and I’m looking forward to learning more and working with lots of other talented people in the future!”
 

Graphene@91ֱ�� offers a range of options for industrial engagement. You can explore the benefits of different membership grades on  or fill in the to get in touch directly. A full list of our partners is available on .

Advanced materials is one of The University of Manchester’s research beacons - examples of pioneering discoveries, interdisciplinary collaboration and cross-sector partnerships that are tackling some of the biggest questions facing the planet. #ResearchBeacons

The work could advance optoelectronic technologies to better generate, control and sense light and potentially communications, according to the researchers. They demonstrated a way to control THz waves, which exist at frequencies between those of microwaves and infrared waves. The findings could contribute to the development of beyond-5G wireless technology for high-speed communication networks.

Weak and strong interactions

Light and matter can couple, interacting at different levels: weakly, where they might be correlated but do not change each other’s constituents; or strongly, where their interactions can fundamentally change the system. The ability to control how the coupling shifts from weak to strong and back again has been a major challenge to advancing optoelectronic devices - a challenge researchers have now solved.

“We have demonstrated a new class of optoelectronic devices using concepts of topology - a branch of mathematics studying properties of geometric objects,” said co-corresponding author , Professor of 2D device materials at The University of Manchester (pictured). “Using exceptional point singularities, we show that topological concepts can be used to engineer optoelectronic devices that enable new ways to manipulate terahertz light.”

Exceptional points are spectral singularities — points at which any two spectral values in an open system coalesce. They are, unsurprisingly, exceptionally sensitive and respond to even the smallest changes to the system, revealing curious yet desirable characteristics, according to co-corresponding author , Associate Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics at Penn State.

“At an exceptional point, the energy landscape of the system is considerably modified, resulting in reduced dimensionality and skewed topology,” said Özdemir, who is also affiliated with the at Penn State. “This, in turn, enhances the system’s response to perturbations, modifies the local density of states leading to the enhancement of spontaneous emission rates and leads to a plethora of phenomena. Control of exceptional points, and the physical processes that occur at them, could lead to applications for better sensors, imaging, lasers and much more.”

Platform composition

The platform the researchers developed consists of a graphene-based tunable THz resonator, with a gold-foil gate electrode forming a bottom reflective mirror. Above it, a graphene layer is book-ended with electrodes, forming a tunable top mirror. A non-volatile ionic liquid electrolyte layer sits between the mirrors, enabling control of the top mirror’s reflectivity by changing the applied voltage. In the middle of the device, between the mirrors, are molecules of alpha lactose, a sugar commonly found in milk.  

The system is controlled by two adjusters. One raises the lower mirror to change the length of the cavity - tuning the frequency of resonation to couple the light with the collective vibrational modes of the organic sugar molecules, which serve as a fixed number of oscillators for the system. The other adjuster changes the voltage applied to the top graphene mirror - altering the graphene’s reflective properties to transition the energy loss imbalances to adjust coupling strength. The delicate, fine tuning shifts weakly coupled terahertz light and organic molecules to become strongly coupled and vice versa.

“Exceptional points coincide with the crossover point between the weak and strong coupling regimes of terahertz light with collective molecular vibrations,” Özdemir said.

He noted that these singularity points are typically studied and observed in the coupling of analogous modes or systems, such as two optical modes, electronic modes or acoustic modes.

“This work is one of rare cases where exceptional points are demonstrated to emerge in the coupling of two modes with different physical origins,” Kocabas said. “Due to the topology of the exceptional points, we observed a significant modulation in the magnitude and phase of the terahertz light, which could find applications in next-generation THz communications.”

Unprecedented phase modulation in the THz spectrum

As the researchers apply voltage and adjust the resonance, they drive the system to an exceptional point and beyond. Before, at and beyond the exceptional point, the geometric properties - the topology - of the system change.

One such change is the phase modulation, which describes how a wave changes as it propagates and interacts in the THz field. Controlling the phase and amplitude of THz waves is a technological challenge, the researchers said, but their platform demonstrates unprecedented levels of phase modulation. The researchers moved the system through exceptional points, as well as along loops around exceptional points in different directions, and measured how it responded through the changes. Depending on the system’s topology at the point of measurement, phase modulation could range from zero to four magnitudes larger.

“We can electrically steer the device through an exceptional point, which enables electrical control on reflection topology,” said first author Dr M Said Ergoktas. “Only by controlling the topology of the system electronically could we achieve these huge modulations.” 

According to the researchers, the topological control of light-matter interactions around an exceptional point enabled by the graphene-based platform has potential applications ranging from topological optoelectronic and quantum devices to topological control of physical and chemical processes.

Contributors include: Kaiyuan Wang, Gokhan Bakan, Thomas B. Smith, Alessandro Principi and Kostya S. Novoselov, University of Manchester; Sina Soleymani, graduate student in the Penn State Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics; Sinan Balci, Izmir Institute of Technology, Turkey; Nurbek Kakenov, who conducted work for this paper while at Bilkent University, Turkey.

The European Research Council, Consolidator Grant (SmartGraphene), the Air Force Office of Scientific Research Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative Award on Programmable Systems with Non-Hermitian Quantum Dynamics and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research Award supported this work.

The partnership, which has seen the launch of and subsequent development of the high-performance graphene-enhanced footwear, is now in the spotlight for its success in taking fundamental research to a successful global hit product.

Officially launched in 2018, the collaborative partners announced that they had been able to develop a graphene-enhanced rubber through a research project which began behind the scenes in 2016.

They developed G-GRIP rubber outsoles for running, hiking and fitness shoes that in testing outlasted 1,000 miles, are scientifically proven to be 50% harder wearing, and deliver the world’s toughest grip.

Subsequently, graphene was infused into the midsole foam as well, to provide superior and long-lasting energy return that supercharges feet. The G-FLY foam midsole was launched in 2021.

Aravind Vijayaraghavan, Professor of Nanomaterials at The University of Manchester, said: “This partnership is an excellent example of how a university research group and a SME can collaborate closely to take cutting edge technology from lab to market at a rapid pace. It demonstrates the significant benefits that graphene can bring to everyday products and impact our daily lives.”

Now Innovate UK has honoured the recently completed between the two organisations with the highest possible grade of ‘Outstanding’. The project has set the bar high, resulting in not only a world-leading product range, but also a highly effective partnership that is boosting the University’s commercial reputation – and that of a fellow northern brand.

inov-8 founder Wayne Edy said: “This powerhouse forged in Northern England has taken the world of sports footwear by storm. We’re combining science and innovation together with entrepreneurial speed and achieving incredible things.”

Graphene is the lauded atomically thin material, first isolated from graphite by 91ֱ�� scientists, leading to the award of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010. At just one atom thick it is lightweight yet incredibly strong, meaning it has many unique properties. inov-8 was the first brand in the world to use the material in sports footwear, and both G-GRIP and G-FLY are patent-pending technologies.

That footwear has since gone on to win multiple awards. The TRAILFLY G 270 and TRAILFLY ULTRA G 300 MAX were both named ‘Trail Running Shoe of the Year’ in the Runner’s World UK Gear Awards for 2020 and 2021 respectively. Graphene-enhanced shoes have also been worn by athletes to set records, especially over ultramarathons distances. Damian Hall wore them to set a new fastest time for the 185-mile Wainwright’s Coast to Coast trail in 39 hours and 18 minutes, as did Jasmin Paris to famously win the 268-mile Spine Race outright and set a new record time that still stands.

The ongoing research and innovation has now also seen the KTP Associate, Dr Nadiim Domun, hired by inov-8 as a Senior Materials Engineer to retain his expertise and to continue the graphene technology development through close collaboration with The University of Manchester.

Graphene has the potential to change lives in so many ways. Athletic equipment is just one current success story for the versatile material. Water filtration, aviation and consumer electronics are among the many applications that are exciting scientists, product developers and the public the world over.

2021 saw 91ֱ�� placed at the top of the table for the UK's Knowledge Transfer Partnerships and become partner of choice for innovation in businesses.

The awards event, held on Monday 14 March at the Samsung KX venue in London’s King’s Cross, was a precursor to the main CogX Festival, an annual conference held every summer in the capital, focusing on advanced technology, data science and AI.

The winners were decided by of academics and tech industry experts, who ran the rule over entries in six categories: Recognising Leadership, Best Innovation, Best Tech Product, Global Goals, Outstanding Research and Achievements and Best Climate Innovation.

Among 24 prizes on offer in the Innovation categories, four went to graphene-related products and projects, all four being part of the Graphene@91ֱ�� community, as follows:

Best Climate Change Innovation in Carbon Emissions and Clean Energy

- low-carbon concrete developed by Nationwide Engineering Group and The University of Manchester’s Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre and Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering.

Best Innovation (Food Tech):

- technologies around vertical farming to minimise water waste, energy consumption and cost, led by Dr Beenish Siddique.

Best Innovation (Diagnostics): 

Dr Rob Wykes at - for work around epilepsy using graphene to develop flexible, highly sensitive neural probes.

Best Innovation (Space):

Graphene Space Habitat – design concept and composites technology for space habitation by Dr Vivek Koncherry and global architects Skidmore, Owings and Merrill.

Chief Executive of Graphene@91ֱ�� James Baker said: “I’m really pleased for the companies and groups involved in these projects. Sometimes we haven’t been as quick as we might to put ourselves forward for these sorts of awards, so it’s great to see to see recognition for the hard work that’s gone into all of these innovations. I look forward to us playing our part in the conference in June.”

Dr Rob Wykes said he was delighted to win the award. “Dissemination of this collaborative scientific work to a larger audience through the CogX platform will bring to the public’s attention the advantages of graphene-based brain interface devices,” he added.

“This work specifically highlights the innovation of graphene micro-transistor arrays, and their superior ability to record a wide range pathological brain signals associated with several common neurological conditions, in particular epilepsy. We believe that future clinical translation of this technology will result in a diagnostic tool that promises to improve patient management and treatment options.”

In addition to the awards, CogX invited Alex Bornyakov, Ukraine’s Deputy Minister for Digital Transformation, to explain how the UK tech community can help the humanitarian crisis in eastern Europe. Bornyakov was introduced by Chris Philp MP, Minister for Tech and the Digital Economy, who gave opening remarks and a call-to-action for the UK community.

The CogX Festival runs from 13-15 June. Find out more about how you can get involved at .

 is one of The University of Manchester’s  - examples of pioneering discoveries, interdisciplinary collaboration and cross-sector partnerships that are tackling some of the biggest questions facing the planet. #ResearchBeacons.

This characteristic, combined with TMDs’ outstanding optical properties, can be used to build multi-functional optoelectronic devices such as transistors and LEDs with built-in memory functions on nanometre length scale.

Ferroelectrics are materials with two or more electrically polarisable states that can be reversibly switched with the application of an external electric field. This material property is ideal for applications such as non-volatile memory, microwave devices, sensors and transistors. Until recently, out-of-plane switchable ferroelectricity at room temperature had been achieved only in films thicker than 3 nanometres.

2D heterostructures

Since the isolation of graphene in 2004, researchers across academia have studied a variety of new 2D materials with a wide range of exciting properties. These atomically thin 2D crystals can be stacked on top of one another to create so-called heterostructures - artificial materials with tailored functions.

More recently, a team of researchers from NGI, in collaboration with NPL, demonstrated that below a twist angle of 2^o, atomic lattices physically reconstruct to form regions (or domains) of perfectly stacked bilayers separated by boundaries of locally accumulated strain.  For two monolayers stacked parallel to each other, a tessellated pattern of mirror-reflected triangular domains is created. Most importantly, the two neighbouring domains have an asymmetric crystal symmetry, causing an asymmetry in their electronic properties.

Ferroelectric switching at room temperature

In the work, , the team demonstrated that the domain structure created with low-angle twisting hosts interfacial ferroelectricity in bilayer TMDs. Kelvin probe force microscopy revealed that neighbouring domains are oppositely polarised and electrical transport measurements demonstrated reliable ferroelectric switching at room temperature.

The team went on to develop a scanning electron microscope (SEM) technique with enhanced contrast, using signal from back-scattered electrons. This made it possible to apply an electric field in-situ while imaging changes to the domain structure in a non-invasive manner, providing essential information on how the domain switching mechanism works. The boundaries separating the oppositely polarised domains were found to expand and contract depending on the sign of the applied electric field and led to a significant redistribution of the polarised states.

This work clearly demonstrates that the twist degree of freedom can allow the creation of atomically thin optoelectronics with tailored and multi-functional properties.

Wide scope for tailored 2D materials

Lead author Astrid Weston (pictured right) said: ����’s very exciting that we can demonstrate that this simple tool of twisting can engineer new properties in 2D crystals. With the wide variety of 2D crystals to choose from, it provides us with almost unlimited scope to create perfectly tailored artificial materials.”

Co-author Dr Eli G Castanon added: “Being able to observe the pattern and behaviour of ferroelectric domains in structures that have nanometre thickness with KPFM and SEM was very exciting. The advancement of characterisation techniques together with the extensive possibilities for the formation of novel heterostructures of 2D materials paves the way to achieve new capabilities at the nanoscale for many industries.”

Advanced materials is one of The University of Manchester’s research beacons - examples of pioneering discoveries, interdisciplinary collaboration and cross-sector partnerships that are tackling some of the biggest questions facing the planet. #ResearchBeacons

Graphene, a two-dimensional carbon material, is a game-changing UK discovery and its properties make it one of the most important breakthroughs in recent memory. Graphene is a wonder material, with incredible electrical, mechanical, and thermal properties.

Prizes of £50,000 and £20,000 will be awarded to the individuals or teams who can best demonstrate how their technology relating to graphene or other 2D materials could be applied to a viable commercial opportunity. This year will also see the inclusion of an additional prize that celebrates the University's position leading the world on sustainable development, more to follow!

Applications will be judged on the strength of their business plan to develop a new graphene-related business. The award then becomes seed funding to allow the candidate to take the first steps towards realising this plan. It recognises the role that high-level, flexible early-stage financial support can play in the successful development of a business targeting the full commercialisation of a product or technology related to research in graphene.

Eli Harari Graphene Enterprise Award 2022: introduction and overview

Join us on Tuesday 10 May and hear from Tony Walker, Deputy Director of the , who will give an overview of the competition, and share with you hints and tips as to what the judges will be looking for in your application.

You will learn about the support available to support you with your application and how to access this

We're also pleased to welcome and introduce you to a previous winner of the competition, who can share with you their experience and how they have progressed with their idea since being involved with the Harari programme.

The final deadline for completed competition entries is midday on Friday, 10 June 2022.

Key Dates*

• Monday, 14 February - competition opens for expressions of interest
• Tuesday, 10 May -
• Week of 23 May - meet with application experts from GEIC
• Week of 30 May - meet with commercialisation experts
• Friday, 10 June - entry deadline, 12pm
• Wednesday, 15 June – Finalists notified
• Monday, 27 June - Finalists invited to pitch to Mock Panel
• Thursday, 30 June - Finalists invited to pitch in the Final Judging Panel
• Monday, 4 July - Final Judging Panel
• Friday, 8 July - Winners Awards Event

*timings may vary 

The team - comprising researchers from the National Graphene Institute (NGI) led by Dr Ivan Vera Marun, alongside collaborators from Japan and including students internationally funded by Ecuador and Mexico - used monolayer graphene encapsulated by another 2D material (hexagonal boron nitride) in a so-called van der Waals heterostructure with one-dimensional contacts (main picture, above). This architecture was observed to deliver an extremely high-quality graphene channel, reducing the interference or electronic ‘doping’ by traditional 2D tunnel contacts.

‘Spintronic’ devices, as they are known, may offer higher energy efficiency and lower dissipation compared to conventional electronics, which rely on charge currents. In principle, phones and tablets operating with spin-based transistors and memories could be greatly improved in speed and storage capacity, exceeding Moore’s Law. 

, the 91ֱ�� team measured electron mobility up to 130,000cm²/Vs at low temperatures (20K or -253^oC). For purposes of comparison, the only previously published efforts to fabricate a device with 1D contacts achieved mobility below 30,000cm²/Vs, and the 130k figure measured at the NGI is higher than recorded for any other previous graphene channel where spin transport was demonstrated.

The researchers also recorded spin diffusion lengths approaching 20μm. Where longer is better, most typical conducting materials (metals and semiconductors) have spin diffusion lengths <1μm. The value of spin diffusion length observed here is comparable to the best graphene spintronic devices demonstrated to date.

Lead author of the study Victor Guarochico said: “Our work is a contribution to the field of graphene spintronics. We have achieved the largest carrier mobility yet regarding spintronic devices based on graphene. Moreover, the spin information is conserved over distances comparable with the best reported in the literature. These aspects open up the possibility to explore logic architectures using lateral spintronic elements where long-distance spin transport is needed.”

Co-author Chris Anderson added: “This research work has provided exciting evidence for a significant and novel approach to controlling spin transport in graphene channels, thereby paving the way towards devices possessing comparable features to advanced contemporary charge-based devices. Building on this work, bilayer graphene devices boasting 1D contacts are now being characterised, where the presence of an electrostatically tuneable bandgap enables an additional dimension to spin transport control.”

Discover more about our capabilities in graphene and 2D material research at .

Advanced materials is one of The University of Manchester’s research beacons - examples of pioneering discoveries, interdisciplinary collaboration and cross-sector partnerships that are tackling some of the biggest questions facing the planet. #ResearchBeacons

A vacuum is assumed to be completely empty space, without any matter or elementary particles. However, it was predicted by Nobel laureate Julian Schwinger 70 years ago that intense electric or magnetic fields can break down the vacuum and spontaneously create elementary particles. 

This requires truly cosmic-strength fields such as those around or created transitorily during high-energy collisions of charged nuclei. It has been a longstanding goal of particle physics to probe these theoretical predictions experimentally and some are currently planned for high-energy colliders around the world.

Now an international, 91ֱ��-led research team – headed by another Nobel laureate, Prof Andre Geim, in collaboration with colleagues from UK, Spain, US and Japan - has used graphene to mimic the Schwinger production of electron and positron pairs.

Exceptionally strong electric fields

In the , they report specially designed devices such as narrow constrictions and superlattices made from graphene, which allowed the researchers to achieve exceptionally strong electric fields in a simple table-top setup. Spontaneous production of electron and hole pairs was clearly observed (holes are a solid-state analogue of subatomic particles called positrons) and the process's details agreed well with theoretical predictions.

The scientists also observed another unusual high-energy process that so far has no analogies in particle physics and astrophysics. They filled their simulated vacuum with electrons and accelerated them to the maximum velocity allowed by graphene’s vacuum, which is 1/300 of the speed of light.  At this point, something seemingly impossible happened: electrons seemed to become superluminous, providing an electric current higher than allowed by general rules of quantum condensed matter physics. The origin of this effect was explained as spontaneous generation of additional charge carriers (holes). Theoretical description of this process provided by the research team is rather different from the Schwinger one for the empty space.

“People usually study electronic properties using tiny electric fields that allows easier analysis and theoretical description. We decided to push the strength of electric fields as much as possible using different experimental tricks not to burn our devices,” said the paper’s first author Dr Alexey Berduygin, a post-doctoral researcher in The University of Manchester's Department of Physics and Astronomy.

Co-lead author from the same department Dr Na Xin added: “We just wondered what could happen at this extreme. To our surprise, it was the Schwinger effect rather than smoke coming out of our set-up.”

Another leading contributor, Dr Roshan Krishna Kumar from the Institute of Photonic Sciences in Barcelona, said: “When we first saw the spectacular characteristics of our superlattice devices, we thought ‘wow … it could be some sort of new superconductivity’. Although the response closely resembles those routinely observed in superconductors, we soon found that the puzzling behaviour was not superconductivity but rather something in the domain of astrophysics and particle physics. It is curious to see such parallels between distant disciplines.”

The research is also important for the development of future electronic devices based on two-dimensional quantum materials and establishes limits on wiring made from graphene that was already known for its remarkable ability to sustain ultra-high electric currents.

Main illustration by Matteo Ceccanti and Simone Cassandra.

Advanced materials is one of The University of Manchester’s research beacons - examples of pioneering discoveries, interdisciplinary collaboration and cross-sector partnerships that are tackling some of the biggest questions facing the planet. #ResearchBeacons

This new investment recognises AEH's breakthrough contribution to a more sustainable future by using a unique hydrogel - branded GelPonic and developed in the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC) - as a growing medium that is biodegradable and fully sustainable.

The pioneering technology will reduce the use of fresh water in agriculture and therefore enable nations like the UK to grow a wider range of indigenous foods – so reducing  “food miles” – while enabling better yields for farmers in developing nations, where poor quality soils and limited rainfall put pressure on water supply and productivity.

Investment in Greater 91ֱ��

Terra Sana's investment will provide AEH with capability to fully develop its vertical farming system and to set up a manufacturing facility in Greater 91ֱ��. The new funding is for an initial sum of £1.5m with a follow-on option to subscribe for £2m in 18 months – and it builds on a £1m investment already made by Innovation UK to AEH.

CEO and founder Beenish Siddique said the new funding was welcome as it will accelerate already established sales opportunities for its GelPonic systems on a global basis. Beenish added that this major investment could provide a boost to female entrepreneurs. 

AEH is based in the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC), the world-leading materials innovation accelerator based at The University of Manchester. The company was initially supported through the programme, and the move to the GEIC came after AEH Director Dr Farid Khan arranged initial match funding for the subsequent £1m Innovate UK grant.

Ray Gibbs, Chairman of AEH, said: “Setting up AEH in the GEIC gave the company a platform to fast-track its product development. Fundamentally, the government-backed grant awarded in 2020 has been vindicated, with the original investment now being trebled with private sector funding. What’s more, this private backing is new investment coming into Greater 91ֱ�� and the UK from North America and offers us both UK and international sales opportunities for our GelPonic products.“

Richard Willett, an investor in Terra Sana, has taken a board position in AEH along with Professor Robert Field, Director of the 91ֱ�� Institute of Biotechnology, at The University of Manchester, who will sit on the technical advisory board.

Richard said: “We are delighted to invest in AEH with Beenish as the visionary behind the company. This international partnership will open new overseas market opportunities, including the fast-growing North American market, where Terra Sana has strong links and already established orders. The AEH gel offers significant opportunities in improving soil in impoverished regions and we see enormous potential in the North American vertical farming market that is forecast to reach over $6,500 million by 2028 [1].”

Notes to editors

1)     

About Terra Sana (TS)

TS is a newly formed Canadian company set up to invest in and operate highly advanced indoor growing facilities, biotechnology and vertical farming. It aims to incorporate revolutionary and scalable products and systems that will make an effective, measurable and sustainable impact on solving the global challenge of scarce water and food shortages against a forecast growth in world population to 10 billion by 2050. It is setting up hi-tech greenhouse growing in Mexico designed to meet food produce orders secured from the USA.

About AEH Innovative Hydrogel Limited;

AEH is a start-up founded in late 2018 by entrepreneur Dr Beenish Siddique, who developed a food-based fully recyclable hydroponic gel. Beenish won initial funding from the Eli and Brit Harari Graphene Enterprise competition.  The initial focus on the novel hydrogel growing media is designed to reduce food production costs, improve quality and lower environmental impact. This award winning agri-tech business had a major breakthrough in 2020 when it won a £1m+ grant from Innovate UK to develop a new GelPonic system for vertical farming, offering significantly reduced costs, carbon emissions and water consumption. AEH is based in the University of Manchester’s . 

Its technical validation is being performed by the UK backed organisation. CHAP brings together scientists, farmers, advisors and pioneers to advance crop productivity and yield around the world. 

Professor Robert Field has been appointed to the AEH Technical Advisory Board and heads up the .

 is one of The University of Manchester’s  - examples of pioneering discoveries, interdisciplinary collaboration and cross-sector partnerships that are tackling some of the biggest questions facing the planet. #ResearchBeacons.

GIIM, a company dedicated to the acceleration and deployment of graphene research, will be headquartered at the (GEIC), part of The University of Manchester, United Kingdom.

The partnership with the GEIC enables GIIM to equip a private lab in the facility, with access to highly specialised applications labs and equipment, plus the unique academic and engineering expertise of the world-leading graphene and 2D materials community at the University.

GIIM is part of the global group . (GII), led by entrepreneur investors Tom Hirsch (CEO and Growth Officer) and Mark Diamond (Chairman).

Now CEO UK and Europe of GIIM, Dr Koncherry was formerly a post-doctoral Impact Research Fellow in the University’s Department of Materials. His two start-ups were spun into the GEIC: (recycled rubber flooring) and Graphene Space Habitat, designed by global architects Skidmore, Owings and Merrill ().

Dr Koncherry benefited from the support of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Bridging the Gap programme and his work led him to win first prizes at the Eli Harari Graphene Enterprise Awards and the EPSRC Future Composites Manufacturing Hub researchers’ competition in artificial intelligence and internet-of-things. This background fuelled the creation of GIIM, with its first base at the GEIC lab, and the proposed establishment of a larger manufacturing facility in 91ֱ��.

GIIM joins the GEIC with the backing of around $5 million (£3.6m) of overseas investment, with a further significant investment in the pipeline for advanced manufacturing capability for construction material in . This funding is subject to the development of new graphene-based products – which is set to include sustainable building materials made from recycled materials – and the investment package is being led by GII (Graphene Innovations Inc) [1].    

With the funding the 91ֱ��-based GIIM plans to hire at least 10 people in the first half of 2022, with plans for further appointments later in the year ….

“The accelerated research and global commercialisation of graphene-based products like batteries, solar cells, hydrogen fuel tanks, space habitat, recycled rubber, and sustainable construction materials using advanced robotics, conducted by GIIM’s elite team, will truly put 91ֱ�� on the world map as the epicentre for commercial graphene research and innovation.” Tom Hirsch (CEO, GII).

"We are excited to see how this international investment into GIIM can help create 91ֱ��-based, high-value, sustainable jobs in the UK that in turn can create global impact and address important strategic areas like international space exploration at a large scale. This further supports the 91ֱ�� region in general as a hotbed of graphene activities and international sales to benefit the UK economy.” Mark Diamond (Chairman, GII).

“We are delighted to extend our partnership with Dr Vivek Koncherry, an example of the exceptional talent that exists at The University of Manchester, who we have supported initially as an SME/Spin-in company through our Bridging the Gap programme and now through investment as a key Tier 1 partner to the GEIC. We look forward to further developing this relationship and supporting the GIIM business in its acceleration of graphene-enhanced products and capabilities to the market.” James Baker, CEO of Graphene@91ֱ��.

“GIIM’s partnership with the GEIC further adds to Greater 91ֱ��’s credentials as a globally unrivalled concentration of graphene expertise. We’re looking forward to welcoming the diverse talent GIIM will attract to the city region and to supporting this exciting wave of innovation. Not only will it revolutionise technologies internationally, but it will also help us to explore habitation beyond Earth in a sustainable way.” Tim Newns, Chief Executive of MIDAS Greater 91ֱ��’s inward investment agency.

“At GIIM, we believe anything is possible for creating global impact through our innovative work. I am grateful to the support of James Baker, The University of Manchester, Greater 91ֱ�� and the new colleague’s Tom Hirsch, Mark Diamond and others for facilitating the work done as a run-up to the successful stage where we are at today.” Dr Vivek Koncherry (CEO, GIIM UK and Europe).

 is one of The University of Manchester’s  - examples of pioneering discoveries, interdisciplinary collaboration and cross-sector partnerships that are tackling some of the biggest questions facing the planet. #ResearchBeacons.

Notes to Editors

[1] Graphene Innovations Inc (GII) is a global graphene investment and entrepreneurship company that will lead on bringing products developed by GIIM to North American markets. Greater 91ֱ��-based GIIM will focus on new product development in the UK and be responsible for retailing these products to UK and European markets. 

The graphene depth neural probe (gDNP) consists of a millimetre-long linear array of micro-transistors imbedded in a micrometre-thin polymeric flexible substrate. The transistors were developed by a collaboration The University of Manchester’s and UCL’s Institute of Neurology along with their Graphene Flagship partners.

The paper, published today in , shows that the unique flexible brain probes can be used to record pathological brain signals associated with epilepsy with excellent fidelity and high spatial resolution.

Dr Rob Wykes of The University of Manchester’s team said: “Application of this technology will allow researchers to investigate the role infraslow oscillations play in promoting susceptibility windows for the transition to seizure, as well as improving detection of clinically relevant electrophysiological biomarkers associated with epilepsy.”

The flexible gDNP devices were chronically implanted in mice with epilepsy. The implanted devices provided outstanding spatial resolution and very rich wide bandwidth recording of epileptic brain signals over weeks. In addition, extensive chronic biocompatibility tests confirmed no significant tissue damage and neuro-inflammation, attributed to the biocompatibility of the used materials, including graphene, and the flexible nature of the gDNP device.

The ability to record and map the full range of brain signals using electrophysiological probes will greatly advance our understanding of brain diseases and aid the clinical management of patients with diverse neurological disorders. Current technologies are limited in their ability to accurately obtain with high spatial fidelity ultraslow brain signals.

Epilepsy is the most common serious brain disorder worldwide, with up to 30% of people unable to control their seizures using traditional anti-epileptic drugs. For drug-refractory patients, epilepsy surgery may be a viable option. Surgical removal of the area of the brain where the seizures first start can result in seizure freedom; however, the success of surgery relies on accurately identifying the seizure onset zone (SOZ).

Epileptic signals span over a wide range of frequencies –much larger than the band monitored in conventionally used scans. Electrographic biomarkers of a SOZ include very fast oscillations as well as infraslow activity and direct-current (DC) shifts.

Implementing this new technology could allow researchers to investigate the role infraslow oscillations play in promoting susceptibility windows for the transition to seizure, as well as improving detection of clinically relevant electrophysiological biomarkers associated with epilepsy.

Future clinical translation of this new technology offers the possibility to identify and confine much more precisely the zones of the brain responsible for seizure onset before surgery, leading to less extensive resections and better outcomes. Ultimately, this technology can also be applied to improve our understanding of other neurological diseases associated with ultraslow brain signals, such as traumatic brain injury, stroke and migraine.

The paper: Full bandwidth electrophysiology of seizures and epileptiform activity enabled by flexible graphene micro-transistor depth neural probes. Nature Nanotechnology, 2021.

If a pore size in a membrane is comparable to the size of atoms and molecules, they can either pass through the membrane or be rejected, allowing separation of gases according to their molecular diameters. Industrial gas separation technologies widely use this principle, often relying on polymer membranes with different porosity. There is always a trade-off between the accuracy of separation and its efficiency: the finer you adjust the pore sizes, the less gas flow such sieves allow.

It has long been speculated that, using two-dimensional membranes similar in thickness to graphene, one can reach much better trade-offs than currently achievable because, unlike conventional membranes, atomically thin ones should allow easier gas flows for the same selectivity.

Now a research team led by Professor Sir Andre Geim at The University of Manchester, in collaboration with scientists from Belgium and China, have used low-energy electrons to punch individual atomic-scale holes in suspended graphene. The holes came in sizes down to about two angstroms, smaller than even the smallest atoms such as helium and hydrogen.

In December's issue of Nature Communications, that they achieved practically perfect selectivity (better than 99.9%) for such gases as helium or hydrogen with respect to nitrogen, methane or xenon. Also, air molecules (oxygen and nitrogen) pass through the pores easily relative to carbon dioxide, which is >95% captured.

The scientists point out that to make two-dimensional membranes practical, it is essential to find atomically thin materials with intrinsic pores, that is, pores within the crystal lattice itself.

“Precision sieves for gases are certainly possible and, in fact, they are conceptually not dissimilar to those used to sieve sand and granular materials. However, to make this technology industrially relevant, we need membranes with densely spaced pores, not individual holes created in our study to prove the concept for the first time. Only then are the high flows required for industrial gas separation achievable,” says Dr Pengzhan Sun, a lead author of the paper.

The research team now plans to search for such two-dimensional materials with large intrinsic pores to find those most promising for future gas separation technologies. Such materials do exist. For example, there are various graphynes, which are also atomically thin allotropes of carbon but not yet manufactured at scale. These look like graphene but have larger carbon rings, similar in size to the individual defects created and studied by the 91ֱ�� researchers. The right size may make graphynes perfectly suited for gas separation.

, compiled by global data analytics firm Clarivate and published on 16 November, features eight researchers based in the NGI, from a total of 15 from UoM who appear in the analysis.

The statistics cover the period from 2010-2020, ranking the top 1% by citations for field and year via online research tool , incorporating natural sciences, engineering, healthcare, business and social science.

The NGI researchers are listed below:

Three of the NGI staff (Geim, Gorbachev and Grigorieva) are among 10 physicists working in the UK who appeared in this year’s list. Only Cambridge (2) also had more than one academic in the UK physics ranking.

In the past decade, with the opening of the £61m  in 2015 and £60m  in 2018, The University of Manchester has cemented its place as the home of research into graphene and other 2D materials, leading on both fundamental science and translational R&D into products and applications.

Professor Falko, Director of the NGI (pictured, right), said: “World-leading research is a combination of singular whirlpools, generated by outstanding individuals. The NGI is a home for many of those individuals, and we are constantly looking for a new talent, providing them with excellent infrastructure and offering a unique intellectual environment.”

The Clarivate report lists 6,600 researchers from more than 1,300 institutions and draws on statistics from around 12 million articles in 12,000+ journals.

Overall, the UK ranks third with 492 researchers on the global list (7.5%), behind the US (39.7%) and China (14.2%), but the report notes the UK punching above its weight, stating the result “is a particularly high number of researchers at the very top of their fields in terms of citation impact, given that the United Kingdom has a population 1/5 the size of the United States and 1/20 the size of mainland China.”

By institution, Harvard University leads the way with 214 researchers on the list, ahead of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (194). Oxford University is the leading UK institution at 10th on the global list with 51.

You can find out more about on the Clarivate website.

Advanced materials is one of The University of Manchester’s research beacons - examples of pioneering discoveries, interdisciplinary collaboration and cross-sector partnerships that are tackling some of the biggest questions facing the planet. #ResearchBeacons

Victrex, Molymem and Survitec have signed up to become Tier 2 partners, offering access to labs, world-leading equipment and expertise in engineering solutions for graphene and other 2D materials.

Ivan Buckley, Director of Business Engagement for Graphene@91ֱ��, said: “We’re delighted to welcome our new partners to our growing list of industrial collaborations.

“The GEIC was created to help companies take innovation rapidly from lab to market and these product areas and services – from advanced polymers and membranes to life-saving equipment and advice on R&D finance – show the range of possibilities across graphene and other 2D materials that we are able to accommodate with our engineering and business expertise.”

“We look forward to working closely with our new and existing partners to build fruitful partnerships and successful products and applications.”

Victrex

Lancashire-based Victrex is a manufacturer of high-performance materials, specialising in thermoplastic polymers.

The company focuses on six core markets - aerospace, automotive, energy, electronics, manufacturing and engineering, and medical - and is looking to address sustainability challenges with advanced materials engineering across those sectors. 

Dr John Grasmeder, Chief Scientist at Victrex, said: “Victrex is delighted to have partnered with Graphene@91ֱ��, as this will enable us to work together to accelerate innovation and create global opportunities for sustainable, graphene-containing high-performance materials. We look forward to a successful collaboration with the GEIC and its partners.”

Molymem

A spin-out from The University of Manchester, Molymem has developed a membrane technology using 2D material molybdenum disulphide (MoS2), aimed at a range of industrial processes for purification, reducing fouling and minimising the use of harsh chemicals for cleaning.

Molymem co-founder Dr Mark Bissett is also a senior lecturer in nanomaterials at The University of Manchester. He said: “As a University of Manchester spin out, it is logical for Molymem to be based within the GEIC as this allows us access to facilities to scale up our technology.

“We have been working with the GEIC for over two years now, and are working with a variety of commercial partners to use our technology to solve their specific needs in filtration and the removal of pollutants from water.”

Survitec

Survitec and the GEIC have partnered in order to promote new and novel materials for use in life-saving equipment. This partnership will allow Survitec to continue to achieve its vision as being the most trusted company for critical safety and survival equipment.

“We’re excited to have kicked off multiple projects with the team at the GEIC and look forward to realising some of the opportunities we have identified together to ultimately satisfy Survitec’s purpose of ‘existing to protect lives’,” said Martin Whittaker, Survitec CEO (Aerospace and Defence).

“As demand for new and novel materials increases in support of 6^th-generation aircraft and other next-generation platforms, the partnership with GEIC epitomises Survitec’s commitment to working closely with world-leading academic and industrial institutions.”

Meanwhile, Counting King - an expert in finance and tax credits for R&D - has taken affiliate membership and Applied Graphene Materials - a producers of high-quality graphene nanoplatelets and dispersions - has taken advantage of our deal that allows members of (also a Tier 2 partner) to enjoy certain benefits of GEIC membership.

Graphene@91ֱ�� offers a range of options for industrial engagement. You can explore the benefits of different membership grades on  or fill in the to get in touch directly. A full list of our partners is available on .

Advanced materials is one of The University of Manchester’s research beacons - examples of pioneering discoveries, interdisciplinary collaboration and cross-sector partnerships that are tackling some of the biggest questions facing the planet. #ResearchBeacons