3 minute read - 14th July 2022
Integrated Graphene to invest £8m to scale-up manufacturing
Integrated Graphene, a Scotland-based technology development and integration company, has announced plans to invest up to £8m in scaling up its 3D graphene foam (Gii®) manufacturing process to meet surging global demand from the human diagnostics and energy markets.
Founded in 2016, Integrated Graphene has developed a commercially viable graphene manufacturing process that is currently scaled to high volumes. The company says that its novel process eliminates the scale-up challenges commonly associated with chemical vapour deposition (CVD) graphene and graphene powder. As well as direct manufacturing, Integrated Graphene is designing manufacturing processes for blue-chip companies to effectively bolt-on to existing lines, and also has a team dedicated to supporting organisations to adapt graphene technologies for their products.
The company’s investment plan will focus on scaling-up the manufacturing of its market-ready graphene enhanced electrodes and super capacitors which are currently being piloted by global blue-chips in human diagnostics point of care testing and smart label asset tracking applications.
Integrated Graphene is to invest £8m in scaling up manufacturing of its 3D graphene foam / Picture: Integrated Graphene
These printable electronic products include the Gii-Sens®, which offers a better and more-effective sensor material for the human diagnostics market and Gii-Cap®, which targets 10% of the $500bn battery market, with the potential to remove 60 million batteries from being thrown away every year.
As part of its growth plans, the company intends to double its existing footprint in Stirling and treble its headcount to 100 over the next three years, hiring a number of development and commercial experts in the UK, Europe and North America. The company will also increase capital expenditure in its next generation pilot line to allow rapid market expansion of Gii-Sens® and Gii-Cap®. For Gii-Sens®, that includes wearables, animal diagnostics, companion diagnostics and environmental diagnostics. With Gii-Cap®, expansion markets include drones, e-mobility, space, satellites, and wearables.
Following graphene’s discovery in 2004, it has been hailed as a wonder material for its potential across a number of industries and applications, from quantum computing to healthcare. Most products under development continue to use a powder version of graphene, which is notoriously difficult to scale and, in most cases, performance is shy of expectations hence commercial adoption being slow.
Integrated Graphene’s unique breakthrough process produces a pure 3D graphene foam (Gii®) onto a range of substances at ambient room temperature. The company believes that its Gii® manufacturing process addresses the key requirements of the graphene industry of producing high quality, cost effective and production scale graphene, which has not been achieved by any company to date.
The addressable market for graphene-enabled products is potentially more than $25bn based on reasonable levels of penetration across all markets, and volume demand for graphene across key application markets is thought to have the potential to reach $1 trillion by 2030.
Claus Marquordt, co-founder and CEO, Integrated Graphene, said: “This investment marks a real tipping point for Integrated Graphene and the manufacturing of our unique 3D graphene foam in its first two market-ready products. We are actively involved in projects with several global blue-chip companies to deliver high volumes of electrodes and super capacitors that address critical needs in accelerating point of care human diagnostics for a wide range of killer diseases and in enabling low-cost flexible and sustainable power systems for the booming IoT, smart label and wearable tech markets. By investing now, we will be ready, this year, to produce millions of units per annum from a new facility in Stirling and to transfer the technology at scale to global partners in the future.”