Beijing establishes graphene innovation center - graphene: super material leading the industrial revolution

Recently, China Aerospace Aviation Materials Institute, China Aviation Development Corporation and the Beijing Municipal Government jointly invested 1 billion yuan to jointly establish a national holding company, Beijing Graphene Technology Research Institute Co., Ltd., and actively create a graphene industry innovation center. Adhering to the construction goal of “the world's first graphene composite technology research and industrial incubation center”, the company is determined to become a new material research and development center that represents the country's image and has an international leading role through one to two years of development.

From conductive materials to electromagnetics to fibers, graphene spanning 26 fields, with its unique application characteristics, has set off a new technological and new industrial revolution that has swept the world, causing great concern. So, what exactly is graphene? Why is it called "super material"?

The magical material of "changing the 21st century"

Graphene is a single-layered sheet-like structure made of carbon atoms and is only one carbon atom. It is the world's thinnest material. Graphene is a hexagonal hexagonal planar film with a strength of more than 100 times that of steel. It is the fastest electron transfer rate in known materials, has a light transmittance of 97.7%, and has excellent thermal conductivity. In layman's terms, in the natural world, graphene is the thinnest, strongest, and extremely conductive material, and it is almost omnipotent in the industrial field. It can be said that the title of "super material" is worthy of the name for graphene.

In 2004, the research team led by Andrei Heim and Konstantin Novoselov of the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom obtained graphene for the first time using the micromechanical stripping method. In 2010, Andrei Heim and Konstantin Novoselov won the Nobel Prize in Physics for their groundbreaking experiments on graphene.

Dai Shenglong, dean of China Aerospace Materials Institute, said, “Graphite products have both granular and film-like forms. Due to their unique and outstanding properties, graphene is used in electronic devices, high-sensitivity sensors and high-performance energy storage devices. Aerospace, biomedicine, touch panels and many other aspects have huge potential market and application prospects."

For example, "thin transparent paper-like mobile phone" "a battery that is fully charged in one minute" "handbag that can lift two tons of heavy objects" "body-like bodysuit like a shirt"... these sci-fi films The items that appear can be realized by the use of graphene. The use of graphene with high flexibility and high sensitivity can also improve the performance of smart phone touch screens. In the future, the display screen of mobile phones and computers will be ultra-thin, ultra-light, and bendable...

In the automotive field, super-strong composite materials made by adding graphene materials can be used as car body materials to ensure that the weight of the car is greatly reduced on the basis of constant or even higher strength, thereby improving the vehicle stroke; using graphene for good electrical conductivity. Sex, heat dissipation and material sturdiness, can also develop graphene conductive static tires, to avoid static electricity generated by ordinary tires and ground friction, so as to avoid explosions of vehicles with explosives and other dangerous goods.

Graphene has many unique properties. According to these characteristics, researchers have given many names to this magical material: for example, because graphene has a hexagonal structure similar to snowflake, researchers at the Institute of Aeronautics The name is "black snowflake". Because graphene is expensive and 15 times the price of gold, it is also known as "black gold." Graphene is also the lightest solid substance in history and is called “carbon sponge” by researchers. Because it is added to traditional materials, it can greatly improve the performance of the original materials. Graphene is also called "industrial MSG."

Focus on the core technologies that lead the future

Graphene is the hottest new material in the world. The countries in the world have taken graphene and its application technology as a long-term strategic development direction, in order to take the initiative and opportunity in the new round of industrial revolution triggered by graphene. China itself has the unique advantage of producing graphene. According to statistics, China's graphite ore reserves account for about 75% of the world's total reserves, production accounts for about 70% of the world's total output, China's graphene enterprises have more than one hundred.

At present, China is at the forefront of the world in the industrialization of graphene. From the perspective of patent applications, according to data released by international authorities recently, as of September 30, 2016, China's graphene patents accounted for the vast majority of the world's proportion, reaching 68.2%, followed by the United States, Japan and South Korea.

In the field of industrialization, a number of typical enterprises have emerged in China: BOE has achieved initial results in the development of graphene optoelectronic devices; the three-dimensional system graphene materials invented by Aijia Technology have improved the conversion power of far infrared rays compared with traditional carbon materials. %; The new graphene heat dissipation material developed by Minghao Technology has been demonstrated and applied in Tongzhou District, Beijing.

Liu Zhongfan, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a professor at the School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering at Peking University, said, "The future graphene industry will be based on the application of graphene materials, rather than as a "golden oil" additive." Some products on the market, including apparel, coatings, composite materials, adsorption, lubrication products, and graphene lithium batteries, smart bracelets, graphene mobile phone touch screens, etc., represent the main products of graphene research in China, which should be said in the international On the first team. But compared with foreign countries, our focus is not the same. At the latest Mobile World Congress, international attention is paid to the frontiers of graphene supercars, IoT sensors, wearables and health management, data communications, energy technologies and composites.

"They are concerned about the future. The graphene industry in the future will definitely be a big cake. How much we can cut depends on what we care about now and what we care about. We really can't just focus on today's products, we must focus on the core technologies that lead the future. This is very important." Liu Zhongfan said.

Government and enterprises join hands to occupy the commanding heights of innovation

In April 2016, the national standard (draft for comments) on the terminology, definition and code of graphene materials, which was closely watched by the industry, was officially announced, which marked the important progress in the formulation of China's first graphene national standard. National policies have pointed out the development of the graphene industry - to make the graphene industry a leading industry.

In the past two years, China's graphene industrial park and graphene-based land have been blooming everywhere, and various so-called "graphene" products have been continuously introduced. At the same time, the capital market is also hot speculating graphene concept stocks.

In this regard, Liu Zhongfan said, “At present, the development of China’s graphene industry has a phenomenon of “crowding up”. Enterprises are small and scattered, and industrial concentration has become a big problem. For example, many foreign companies do graphene are large enterprises, while in China, Basically, they are some small start-ups." Liu Zhongfan expressed concern about this. "At present, the graphene industry is in the initial stage of industrialization, and it has just revealed a little clue. The development mode of the "mass movement" cannot effectively promote the development of the graphene industry. If China does not change the current graphene industry. Development mode, in the future, the core industry in the graphene field is likely to be occupied by foreign countries. The development of the graphene industry must have the national will, and domestic large enterprises, especially central enterprises, must have a strategic layout."

For the newly established Beijing Graphene Technology Research Institute Co., Ltd., Jiang Guangzhi, a member of the Beijing Municipal Commission for Economic and Information Technology, said that in the future, Beijing Graphene Industry Innovation Center will guide the development of graphene frontier technology, graphene application technology and graphene industry technology. Development, giving play to the local government industry leading demonstrations and the technological advantages of national research institutes, making Beijing a key hub for the global graphene innovation network, a demonstration area for graphene military-civilian integration, and the main engine and main force of the national graphene high-end industry.

In this regard, Liu Zhongfan said that it is indeed necessary to build a number of high-end research and development institutions for the future graphene industry, focusing on stable support. The government should clearly define the decision-making position, focus on the future core technology of the graphene industry, and let the low-end products be handed over to the market and enterprises. The government must seize the layout of the future. For the market and enterprises, the government only needs the layout environment.

"I don't doubt the prospects of graphene industrialization, but this road is definitely not that simple. It can't be completed in 3 to 5 months, but it is a road full of thorns. It needs patience and persistence. There is no good graphene material. There is no future for the industry, so we are confident that we must do the best graphene materials," said Liu Zhongfan.

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