The University of Surrey is to establish a graphene centre within its Advanced Technology Institute (ATI), expanding and consolidating the University's graphene research and manufacturing capabilities.
Through the Centre, the ATI will further its research into the uses and manufacture of graphene across industrie,s such as high frequency electronics, flexible and transparent electronics, smart coatings such as emissivity and barrier layers, energy generation and storage, electrical interconnect technology, antennas and within calibration standards.
At the heart of the Centre will be the ATI's Photo Thermal deposition technology, which produces large scale electronic-grade graphene on wafer-scale substrates. The new tool performs both steps in creating electronic-grade graphene, catalyst deposition and graphene growth, saving the need to transfer the sample between machines. As the sample is kept in a vacuum, the grown material is of higher quality. Additionally the process allows high volume production in an industrial environment.
"The opening of our new Centre will help ensure that our graphene research is focussed on the practical benefits and applications of this material across industries," said Professor Ravi Silva from the University of Surrey and Director of the ATI.
"This tool is an exciting addition to our existing capabilities. Together with industrial and academic partners, we can combine our expertise in nano-materials and graphene to advance technologies such as electronic devices, supercapacitors, solar cells, OLEDs and printed transistors."
The Centre has received funds of over £1.2million from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), in collaboration with BAE Systems, Tata Steel, Airbus Defence and Space , Intel, M-Solv, Thomas Swan, DSTL, and the National Physical Laboratory. Academic partners include the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford, Manchester, Imperial, Exeter, Trinity College Dublin and Aristotle University of Thessaloniki who will help to ensure that the graphene technologies developed at the Centre are used by industry.