Production

Work Package 15

Our Work Package is largely made up of industrial partners who use graphene to develop and improve the performance of commercial products. This includes UV-C LEDs for water purification, coatings for copper wires to improve conductivity, new composites for fire protection in vehicles and buildings, and new materials for the aerospace industry. In particular, we produced and validated new materials for the Airbus A350 aircraft.

In addition to product development, our partners have significantly increased the production and distribution capabilities of graphene and layered materials for the entire Graphene Flagship. Our materials are made using standardised, quantified and certified methods to ensure we meet the levels of consistency and reproducibility required for product development.

Better than the best, with real impact

We run four key tasks, each addressing a different market. In each of them, graphene enhances the properties and performance of our products to the point that they exceed current state-of-the-art technology.

• UV-C LEDs: We exploit the conductive and optical properties of graphene to create a transparent electrode for UV-C LEDs, with improved efficiency, for water treatment and purification.
• i-cables: Copper wires are coated with graphene to improve both conductivity and corrosion resistance, extending their shelf life and enabling them to be thinner and lighter.
• Aerospace materials: Graphene enhances the impact resistance of construction materials for aircraft, like in the Airbus A350. After testing and upscaling, this could provide significant benefits to safety, fuel efficiency and weight reduction, which in turn will decrease the environmental impact.
• Fire protection: The coatings and structures we develop using graphene and layered materials can be used in both the automotive industry and in building construction. Not only do they provide fire protection, but they also have diagnostic fire sensing capabilities: a significant health and safety improvement compared to existing materials