UK Collaboration to Develop New Ultra-Barrier Materials Based on Graphene Interlayers

The Centre of Process Innovation (CPI) has announced that it is part of a UK-based collaboration to develop the next generation of ultra-barrier materials using graphene for the production of flexible transparent plastic electronic-based displays such as those required for the next generation of smartphones, tablets and wearable electronics.
 
The graphene market is predicted to be worth more than £800m by 2023. The graphene market could transform the manufacturing landscape in the UK if new materials, processes, equipment and metrology can be developed effectively in concert.
 
The project combines the skills from each of the partners (University of Cambridge, FlexEnable Ltd, the National Physical Laboratory and the Centre for Process Innovation) and expects to deliver a feasible material and process system. It builds upon significant existing investments by InnovateUK and the EPSRC in this area. The resulting ultra-barrier material can be potentially used in a wide range of novel applications by the lead business partner, FlexEnable.
 
The 12-month project is titled Gravia. It will investigate the feasibility of producing graphene-based barrier films for next generation flexible OLED lighting and display products. However current commercially available barrier layers used to protect the electronics in display screens have limitations with regards to flexibility.
 
The incorporation of graphene interlayers offers great potential for flexible displays. Its gas blocking properties will enable barrier materials that are not only flexible, but also transparent, robust, and very impervious to many molecules. Gravia will seek to accelerate product development. The key challenge will be to develop large-area poly-crystalline graphene films.
 
The demonstration of feasible working prototypes will represent a significant achievement in the race to bring wearable electronics and plastic displays to the mass market. Measuring barriers at very low levels of permeability requires sensitive and accurate tests. Collaborating with the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) will ensure that the data claims are correct and meaningful comparisons can be made in the future.
 
“The Hofmann group at the Department of Engineering in Cambridge is a key innovator in the growth and processing of graphene films,” said James Johnstone, business development nanager at CPI. “NPL are experts in the traceable measurement of water transfer characteristics and FlexEnable brings an industrial focus to the project with their extensive expertise in the manufacture of flexible electronics and flexible display screens in particular. CPI’s role in the project is to use roll-to-roll atomic layer deposition technologies to scale up, test and fabricate the ultra barrier materials.”