Reactor for fabrication of graphene: European patent granted
Graphene, one-atom thick crystal of carbon, is a new cutting-edge material gathering a set of unique physicochemical properties, ranging from its extreme mechanical behaviour to its exceptional electrical and thermal conductivities. However, large-scale applications of graphene have not yet taken off because of the very low quality of the commercially available graphene and derivatives.
A team of researchers (Elena Tatarova, Júlio Henriques, Luís Lemos Alves and Bruno Gonçalves) of the Plasma Engineering Laboratory of group N-PRiME with Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear developed a plasma machine to fabricate free-standing graphene, at much lower production cost than the other existing market solutions. They were granted a patent 'Reactor for fabrication of graphene' (ref EP3567130) by the European Patent Office (EPO).
The reactor implements a novel plasma-assisted process that controls the number of atomic monolayers and the structural quality (defects, impurities, etc.) of the two-dimensional autonomous nanostructures produced, namely graphene. 'The process is based on injecting a liquid precursor, such as ethanol, through a microwave argon plasma, where decomposition of ethanol takes place', says the PI of the project Elena Tatarova. 'The carbon atoms and molecules, produced by the plasma in gas phase, diffuse into cooler zones of the system, where they aggregate into solid carbon nuclei.'
The patent is an outcome of project PEGASUS (Plasma Enabled and Graphene Allowed Synthesis of Unique nanoStructures) that embodies the plasma-driven controllable design of matter at the atomic scale level to develop a disruptive technology and a proof-of-concept machine for the manufacturing of consistent high-quality batches graphene and derivatives at a large-scale (3 national patents granted; 1 US patent granted).
The invention targets graphene users and consumers developing new products and devices, for applications as varied as energy storage and conversion devices (e.g. electrodes for supercapacitors, AC filtering lines), materials for hydrogen streams purification & storage, composite materials, jet inks, metamaterials, and negative dielectric permittivity materials.
The team is currently selecting the Europeans countries where the invention will be protected.
