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An interview with Denis Koltsov, chair of International Standards Organisation: ISO TC229 nanotechnologies

Denis Koltsov is one of the leading people in the global graphene community. He has the responsibility for chairing the group that develops the international standards in the fast-developing field of graphene and 2D materials.

We managed to find time for a conversation about his work. The full interview was recorded and can be found on the nixenepublishing.com website.

Can you start by telling us about your work?
Well, the International Standards Organisation is based in Geneva. They do all sorts of standardisation for all sorts of sectors. The organisation is divided into technical committees that specialise in specific areas. I work in the field of standards for nanotechnology. The technical committee 229 (TC229) works on nanotechnology in general and graphene is part of this. We cover many aspects of standardisation, terminology, measurement, health and safety, to material specifications. Now we are even going in to applications which is a tricky business because the number of applications has just exploded, not only for graphene but other nanomaterials as well.

So, a big part of your work will be to define what is and is not graphene?
As a responsible organisation, ISO, we take the terms used quite seriously. This means that suppliers and customers anywhere in the world can use terms such as graphene, few-layer graphene, graphene nanoplatelet etc. and this would mean the same thing for everyone around the world. Customers would know what they are buying. The thing we don’t want is someone selling graphene when it is not actually graphene and we have seen cases like this already.

How do you know you have graphene?
It is quite difficult sometimes to find out whether a material is graphene or not. To find out for certain you need to have very specific and well standardised methods for measurement or characterising the material because they all look like black powder.
To give credit to the graphene industry they are not just supplying black powder. Most people I speak to do quite good measurements. The problem is that different organisations do their measurements in slightly different ways and this is a problem for standardisation.

Can you give us an example of why is this important?
The basic measurements are required by industry pretty much yesterday. Imagine you are a start-up company and you need graphene for some application. You buy a material that is supposedly graphene but it isn’t. You try it, it doesn’t work, you fail and your venture capital runs out of patience and the start-up ceases. The world is busy we move on.
But what if that start-up was trying to answer some major questions such as a cure for cancer or desalination of water, really big tickets. What then? They bought a misleading material they tried and failed and maybe three to five years in the future someone else tries again with better material and will succeed. The result is we have lost all this time.
So, we take all this quite seriously. Actually, it is important to supply material that is genuine using genuine measurement methods. This means material can be specified without ambiguity so the same material is measured in the same way in different countries, different climates and different time zones and everyone produces the same result. This is exactly where we are heading.

Can you give us an idea of the different types of graphene?
There is monolayer graphene, then few-layer graphene up to ten layers then beyond that it is graphite or graphene-like material. But beyond ten layers applications do not stop. For example, there are many applications for supplying high quality many layered graphene-like materials into polymers such as rubber in tyres, additives for cement and asphalt for roads. These are really large volume applications. The issue is to supply the customer with material that is uniformly defined and characterised.

So, customers can have confidence that the material they are buying has the correct properties and delivers the performance benefits everyone expects?
Correct. Graphene and most nanomaterials are not commodities. So, you cannot say, I would like two-layer graphene today. It is a little more involved than that. It takes a while for the application builder to interact with the supplier. Many factors are important, such as the flake size, the dispersion, the chemical functionalisation, what impurities may be present and whether the application builder can live with those impurities. The important thing is the language between the application builder and supplier is correct and genuine. This means different nanomaterials can be compared to see which produces the best result in a fair comparison. This allows the supplier to be selected and then the work of optimising the particular material for the applications can begin.
Standards are only part of the conversation, there is a lot of bespoke work going on.

So how do standards get developed?
We have a lot of countries represented. Each country has a committee with quite a few people involved representing industry, consumer organisations, academia, regulators etc. When it comes to discussion to define, say, what is graphene or what is a nanomaterial, all these people come out of their committees to say ‘actually we think this is…’ They must present scientific evidence.

We have disagreements. These are resolved by voting. Everyone has a voice. However quite often one voice, with very good scientific reasoning can sway the development of particular standards. The standards are also heavily influenced by the end use applications.
For example, if a supplier wants their material to be called something specific, make your case and justify it and we will listen. This is why we always encourage people to be there at the meetings so representations can be made.

If someone wants to get involved with setting of standards how do they do this?
They can send an email to me (Denis Koltsov). In the UK the chair of the national committee is Dr. Charles Clifford at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL).

We will welcome all the experts who can spare their time and expertise to bring these standards to publication.

So, you travel the world to identify and meet the key players, marshal the science and technology and understand the applications. Then you have to have the people skills to bring groups together, get them to share their knowledge and extract the best thinking to create well-formed and enduring descriptions that you capture in a document that will last a long time. This creates useful clarity to enable products of the future to be applied for the maximum benefit way into the future. Dr. Denis Koltsov, I have come away with a renewed respect and admiration for your work. You have a fascinating job. Thank you very much for your time.

Graphene is known by its attributes and superlatives. The same can be said of Dr. Aruna Zhamu, co-founder of Global Graphene Group (G3)

• #1 female scientist in the US for most graphene-related patents
• #2 Globally recognized graphene inventor
• She is one of only a handful of female scientists to hold over 150 US patents
• 450 US patents held and patent applications focused on graphene
• 215 US patents filed graphene-related US patents filed
• 475 US patents issued and applications filed in her career
• President of Honeycomb Battery Company, a subsidiary of Global Graphene Group
• VP of New Product / Process Development at G3

Dr. Zhamu’s impact on the scientific community is significant. In addition to her achievements as an inventor, Dr. Zhamu led Global Graphene Group to become the world’s largest manufacturer of single-layer graphene oxide. She co-invented graphene thermal film, graphene-enabled sulphur cathode, high-capacity anodes and graphene supercapacitors.

“Supporting women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) is very important to me,” said Dr. Zhamu, who holds a BS and PhD from Beijing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics, China. “Being a woman in science, I’ve found you need to be strong and confident in yourself to be successful. Then you can become a leader and truly make an impact.”

“It’s very important to me to support other women in science and support girls pursuing STEM education,” said Zhamu. “Female scientists have so much to offer our chosen fields of study, and we’ll continue to be a big part of the future in technology.”

Nixene Publishing was recently granted an interview with Dr. Zhamu. Many thanks to Amy Maggart, G3 Corporate Communications for facilitating the exchange of questions and answers with Debbie Nelson, Contributing Editor and Project Manager.

When did you know you wanted to be a scientist? What first inspired you?
“I have always been interested in science. Science is universal—it’s the same in all languages. And it has the power to change the world. I first was inspired by science because I was curious about UFOs and outer space. Neil Armstrong was my idol when I grew up.”

Has your fascination with space grown into adulthood? In a world where anything is possible, what would your ideal space-related graphene application be?
“The fascination has never left me, but I’ve been focusing more of my time on graphene’s everyday applications. Graphene could potentially be used in space-related applications as it has high electrical and thermal conductivity.”

At the time graphene was discovered, did you immediately want to study it? What intrigued you most when you decided to focus on graphene?
“first started working with graphene in 2006. It intrigued me due to the numerous applications it has. The more I worked with it, the more I discovered its benefits for thermal management, energy solutions and mechanical strength. It’s truly limitless what graphene can do, and we’re still uncovering applications for it.”

Do you recall the first graphene application you investigated?
“Single-layer graphene thermal film, which can be used to dissipate heat in consumer electronic products.”

Do you have a way to relax and just explore scientific possibilities, like the Nobel prize winners did on Fridays? What do you enjoy to clear your head?
“I love gardening! I have been working on my home garden lately since we have been working from home due to the COVID-19 restrictions and the warmer weather. I also enjoy working in my yard. And I spend time with my German Shepard, Mr. Darcy. We take long walks and play. These activities help me clear my mind and unwind.”

Is there one particular discovery of yours that you are most proud of or excited about – or is it impossible to choose favourites?
“This is like asking someone to pick their favourite child. I love every small discovery we’ve made. There are still countless unknowns in the future for us to explore. That’s the best part of being a scientist.”

What advice would you give to the parent of a child who is interested in science?
“I would advise parents to really encourage their children to pursue their interest in science. There are many resources for parents to give their children experiences in science, even young children. Take the child to science museums geared towards children, like our nearby COSI (Center of Science and Industry) in Columbus, Ohio.”

“Parents can find child-friendly science activities online that they can do at home with household items. And there are so many different types of science that children can study – biology, chemistry, physics, etc. Science allows for a huge variety of career paths, typically with great benefits and pay. Science can be difficult to learn, but if a child has a passion for it, they can learn and excel.”

Is there anything you are working on that you might be able to share with us?
“My team and I are focused on our battery solutions. I’m the President of Global Graphene Group’s Honeycomb Battery Company, and we are seeing big opportunities in EV battery technology. We have several products that are being tested by third parties that will extend the life of an EV battery. Our products can make EV’s drive farther on a single charge, recharge much faster than they can today, and keep the battery safer. Our findings are very exciting and will make electric vehicles more advantageous for the general public to use going forward.”

Graphene entering the impact era: James Baker,
Graphene@Manchester

James Baker, Chief Executive Officer, Graphene@Manchester. This includes the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC) and National Graphene Institute (NGI)
This article is based on a conversation between James and Adrian Nixon, Editor of the Nixene Journal
(James Baker in front of the GEIC Building 1 – Image courtesy of the University of Manchester)

James, you gave an excellent opening keynote speech at the recent Graphene Innovation Showcase, what did you mean by graphene entering the impact era?

The impact era for graphene is becoming less about what graphene is and more about what graphene can do. 2019 has been a key year for the acceleration of graphene towards the tipping point where we see it has become embedded in many other products.

People will talk less about graphene as a material in its own right and more about experiencing the benefits of graphene as a performance additive. Can you give us some examples of the impact that graphene has made recently?

Graphene has made a big impact in the automotive sector where it enhances the strength and heat resistance of urethane foams used in the engine compartment. More importantly it also improves the noise reduction of the materials and this means quieter more refined cars. Customers like this and it is a real competitive advantage, in 2019 alone we estimate around one million cars were made with graphene.

Graphene is also being used in mobile phones. Its thermal conductivity makes it an ideal material for the heat spreader. Heat is now dissipated with a solid-state graphene system rather than an expensive and power consuming heat exchanger. This means the phone battery lasts a lot longer than its rivals, again creating a real customer benefit that creates competitive advantage. We estimate over 21 million phones have been made with graphene components.

This is very impressive; how does this connect with the GEIC and Abu Dhabi?
We are at an exciting stage in the development and application of graphene and other 2D materials. Abu Dhabi through Masdar had the foresight to invest in the GEIC and we are housed in the Masdar building in Manchester. We value our partnership with Masdar and Khalifa University of Science and Technology (KUST) These resources have enabled us to connect with the unique pool of talent around the Nobel prizewinning scientists such as Andre Geim. There are 350 people working on graphene in Manchester.

And the role of the GEIC in this?
The GEIC is focussed on commercialising world class science. We aim to be a facilitator for supply chain collaboration sustaining links between the academics exploring the frontiers of science and the industrial companies that will apply this knowledge.
To this end we have developed the Manchester model. This is a flagship for how we commercialise science and be a benchmark method for collaboration. At the GEIC we have the capability to operate at the kilogram and square metre scale. This allows us to rapidly develop and prototype industrial scale applications with a fail fast approach we call Design-Make-Evaluate-Repeat

This means we take new developments from laboratory to market and reduce the time from years to months. This is how we accelerate commercialisation.

What specific areas are you seeking to accelerate?
Standards are really important. We have a collaboration with the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) to develop graphene metrology that will be able to identify and reliably prove the consistency of the products of the future.

We see the big opportunities in Lightweighting, taking weight out of cars, planes and buildings. Reinforcement is an associated area where we can get the same strength using less material and reduce the carbon footprint.
Printed electronics and sensors are another rapidly developing area. We hosted the world’s first graphene hackathon where students worked with the latest graphene conductive inks to invent devices, build working prototypes and pitch the business plans over a 24-hour session. This is one innovative approach to identify and build a pipeline of talent for the future.

Energy storage, in particular supercapacitors and thermal management are other areas where we can advance and test new products and ideas. We also see a huge opportunity for filtration and separation cleaning up dirty water and even scaling up new ways of using graphene and 2D materials for desalination of water.
That was a really comprehensive view of the future impact that you are planning to enable through the collaborative approach centred around the physical and intellectual assets you manage here in Manchester, Thank you James.

Professor Sir Andre Geim is repeatedly named among the world’s most active scientists by Thomson-Reuters. He is continually making an impact with ground breaking research.
He is the only person ever to have been awarded both the Ig Nobel and Nobel prizes (both for physics). He rarely gives interviews so this was a treat.

Here are some highlights from his conversation with me and members of the audience…

Why do you think graphene has gained so much prominence?
It is a material of surprises and superlatives. As well as being the thinnest, strongest, most highly electrically and thermally conductive material ever discovered, we can also add it is the quickest to market. We first started to see graphene in sports equipment such as tennis racquets & skis, although many thought it was mostly a sales gimmick. Now we are seeing more realistic applications as graphene is being added to improve mobile phones, batteries, paints and car components.

What is your view of the landscape of this whole field of research?
Graphene is only one of a whole new family of two dimensional (2D) materials. We know of over a thousand more. The exploration of these has only just begun. An example of these materials would be boron nitride (hBN) which is similar to graphene but instead of carbon it is made of alternating boron and nitrogen atoms. Molybdenum disulphide (MoS2) is another of these 2D crystals and has a range of properties that make it a promising candidate for future electronics.
As well as understanding the properties of these new materials we have learnt how to combine them in layered stacks called van der Waals heterostructures. The number of potential combinations is practically endless. The 2D materials and their heterostructures will keep us in work for decades to come.

Adrian Nixon in conversation with Andre Geim at the National Graphene Institute
(Image courtesy of the University of Manchester)

You mentioned graphene is a wonder material, can you tell us more?
To everyone’s surprise, graphene continues to reincarnate itself every couple of years. The most recent example is bilayer graphene where layers are rotated slightly (about 1 degree) relatively to the other. This rotation makes graphene superconducting when cooled down to 2 Kelvin. This came as a genuine surprise, no one expected or predicted this. People are still working to understand the mechanism involved. The research has the name twistronics, an emerging field that explores effects of aligning atomic layers within van der Waals heterostructures at different angles. This is going to keep scientists occupied for many years.

Are you working on other aspects of 2D materials?
Let me give you the latest example of Manchester research developed over the last 3 years. When an atomic layer such as graphene is removed from its bulk crystal, people focused on the material that had been isolated, graphene or another 2D crystal. We changed the perspective asking ourselves what properties would be of what is left behind. It is an empty space of only a few angstroms in height.

These 2D voids can be used as, for example, nanocapillaries and exhibit quite unusual properties as we found. They allow some molecules, like water, to pass through. Other, larger, molecules and ions cannot. This mimics the basic elements of life, protein channels such as aquaporins. Using the 2D empty space we can now explore the behaviour of gases and liquids under the true atomic-scale confinement, which is important for many things in science including our understanding of the complexities and functioning of life.

Amazing, thank you Andre. You have given us an insight into Nobel prizewinning thinking. Long may you continue to explore and fascinate us with what you find.

Graphene in the Advanced Materials arena:
An interview with Steve Griffiths of Khalifa University

Steve Griffiths, Senior Vice President, Research and Development, Khalifa University in conversation with Adrian Nixon, Editor of the Nixene Journal.

Can you tell me about your approach to knowledge acquisition?
We have a clear and organised approach at Khalifa University of Science and Technology. Our research priorities are addressed in two categories – “verticals”, which align directly with specific industry and sector needs, and “horizontals”, which relate to technical platforms and expertise that are utilized across industries and sectors.
We have a close partnership with the University of Manchester and support the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre, where I am serving as a board member. The GEIC offers access to purpose-built graphene laboratories for scale-up of early-stage research and the ecosystem of talent that can help us explore and exploit the potential of these exciting new materials together.

How does graphene fit with your strategic approach?
Our view extends beyond graphene to the wider family of emerging two-dimensional (2D) materials, that are just one atom thick yet possess outstanding strength, electrical and thermal properties.

We see graphene and related 2D materials as an exciting component of one of our “horizontal” technical platforms; Advanced Materials and Manufacturing. Looking through the “verticals” lens of our strategic approach allows us to focus on the applications of these new materials. We see possibilities in the following areas of interest:

How do you see the emerging technology of graphene developing?
More broadly, we perceive the emergence of graphene technologies in a similar way to how Artificial Intelligence (AI) has evolved over the course of the past few years. Graphene, like AI, means different things to different people and has received a lot of hype. Initially graphene was thought to be the potential solution to everything. Now, however, we are starting to learn how to apply this rapidly developing technology to solve real world problems.

New focus on the utility of graphene brings awareness of opportunities. For instance, we would like to see more attention paid to the role of advanced materials like graphene in the evolving circular economy. Graphene, for instance, presents a great opportunity to bring enhancements to ordinary but widely-used materials such as cement and asphalt. Recent results from real world demonstrations show us that roads can potentially last twice as long when very small amounts of graphene are added to the asphalt. New findings also show that very small amounts of graphene added to cement, as little as 0.05 percent by weight, can improve its mechanical strength by up to 40%. Such strength improvements in cement can reduce by about 50% the amount of material required to make concrete and therefore provide a considerable reduction in the carbon emissions associated with the construction sector.

Such opportunities for graphene to help reduce global carbon emissions are surprisingly not yet a major part of the mainstream sustainability conversation. This, however, can be fixed with more examples like asphalt and concrete. Graphene and 2D analogues have their part to play in the advanced materials revolution, which coincides with other key global topics like sustainability.

James Baker is the CEO of Graphene@Manchester, the organisation that includes the National Graphene Institute (NGI) and the Graphene Engineering and Innovation Centre (GEIC – pronounced like ‘geek’) both are based at The University of Manchester in the UK.
James and I are meeting at the new GEIC. It is habitable, but not officially opened yet and still being fitted out with world class laboratory and production facilities for making and testing graphene products. There is a sense of excitement and purpose around this development and it feels energising.

I’m here to find out more about the GEIC and how it fits with the world of graphene, so we start talking…

Can you tell us where you see graphene right now?
Much of the basic science has been done, we know a lot about the properties of graphene and what it can do.
Most of the activity over recent years can be seen as graphene as a technology push. You can think of this as graphene solutions looking for a problem. This approach has had some market impact but there is much more to do.
We are starting to see an underlying change where graphene is being embedded in real products solving customer problems and creating saleable benefits. This changes the dynamic to a market pull.
I believe we are in a transition phase moving from the technology push to a market pull and we will look back on the next few years as a tipping point where the promise of graphene started to be realised in improved commercial products.

Can you give me an example of graphene creating marketable benefits?
A few weeks ago a company called inov-8 launched the world’s first ever graphene sports shoes.
The high performance shoes have a rubber outsole made from a graphene composite.
This makes them 50% stronger, 50% more elastic and 50% harder wearing than the standard high performance sports shoe.
You would think that making shoes last longer would mean customers would buy less often and the market would shrink. However the reverse is happening as more customers realise the improved performance the market actually increases. This is just one example, there are many more.

How does the GEIC fit in to all this?
The GEIC is one component of the Graphene City vision from the University of Manchester that aims to create a thriving knowledge economy based around graphene and other 2D materials. It is part of a scientific and technological ecosystem together with the NGI and the new Henry Royce Institute, a national institute for advanced materials also based in Manchester.
There is nowhere else in the world with such a concentration of graphene expertise combined with hundreds of millions of pounds of investment.
The GEIC is housed in the Masdar building; a purpose built multi-million pound development that will open in December. It contains the latest state of the art equipment and will be a unique facility to lead the commercialisation of graphene and other 2D materials. The leadership is different too.
Where most facilities are academic-led, the GEIC is industry-led and designed to accelerate bringing graphene technologies to market. The GEIC is industry focussed.

What capabilities do you have at the GEIC?
We have laboratories with five functional capabilities:

• Membranes and Coatings: Specialises in areas such as desalination, fuel cells and packaging applications
• Energy: For batteries, supercapacitors and energy storage
• Inks & Formulations: Printed electronics and smart structures for wearables and sensor applications
• Composites: Capabilities to create rubber, plastics, metals and concrete graphene composites
• Materials characterisation: Developing and functionalising graphene nanoplates, chemical vapour deposition (CVD) graphene films, and other 2D materials

The capability of the GEIC, complemented by the NGI and Manchester’s expert knowledge base will allow commercial partners to rapidly prototype and develop products.

So, what can the GEIC do?
Put yourself in the place of an industry partner who is working with us to solve a problem or improve a product. We can assemble world-class experts to help you think through the issues and devise solutions in a morning workshop.
The laboratories can be harnessed to rapidly develop a response so that by the afternoon you could have a prototype in your hands that you can touch, feel and test. There are not many places that will help you go from problem to prototype in a day.
We are not claiming we’ll be able to solve your problems in one go. What we can do is help you innovate through a fail-fast-learn-improve approach. This accelerates the many small improvements that ultimately create the optimised product on which successful businesses are based.

This seems to be just what industry needs, has there been much interest?
Yes, we have a lot of interest in us. The GEIC is not open yet and we have already announced our first three industrial partners. First Graphene Ltd, Haydale Graphene Industries, and Versarien PLC have each agreed to partner with us to develop and commercialise graphene products and applications. There are at least another eight potential partners waiting. In fact I must talk to one of them in a few minutes…

James has to dash to his next meeting and as I’m leaving the building I reflect on the fact that both of us were swept up with the energy and enthusiasm of this place. I depart with a feeling that this will be another success for Manchester