Graphene has undergone rapid development in just 12 years since its official debut in 2004. In 2010, two scientists from the University of Manchester, Andre Gem and Kostya Novoselov, won the annual Nobel Prize in Physics for their discov
ery of graphene. Since then, research and industrialization related to graphene have continued to heat up and attracted a climax. Since 2011, global graphene patent applications have experienced explosive growth. As of 2013, there have been over 5000 inventions related to the manufacturing and application of graphene worldwide, which is 50 times more than in 2004. Many countries and regions such as Europe, the United States, Japan, and South Korea have conducted a series of related studies, supported many projects, and made strategic deployments to promote industrial development.
From 2012 to 2013, the commercial market industrialization of graphene technology was slow, almost zero, and few representative products appeared. Since 2013, the graphene market has entered a period of rapid development; In 2015, the world's first graphene based intelligent therapy waist protection developed by Xiwang Technology was crowdfunded on JD.com, causing a huge wave in the industry. According to the prediction of Sairui Industry Research Institute, the global graphene market size may reach as high as 195 million US dollars in 2018, and will accelerate its development thereafter, exceeding 1.3 billion US dollars by 2023
Although graphene research in China started relatively late, it has developed rapidly and has potential advantages. In recent years, the number of related patent applications and applicants in China has grown rapidly, and the technical topics involved have become more extensive. Jiangsu, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Heilongjiang, and institutions such as the Chinese Academy of Sciences have established industrial technology alliances through various forms of collaborative innovation, promoting the optimization and combination of innovation resources and the industrialization process of innovation. In the global ranking of comprehensive development strength in the graphene industry, China ranks third, with the United States and Japan in the top two.
In terms of graphene industrialization, 2015 became the explosive year of China's graphene industry. On March 2, 2015, the world's first batch of 30000 graphene based mobile phones were released in Chongqing. This phone features the latest developed graphene touch screen, battery, and thermal conductive film, ushering in a new era of industrial application of graphene. After years of scientific research accumulation, the industrialization pace of graphene enterprises in China has been accelerating, and the preparation process has shown diversified development. A few enterprises have the ability to produce graphene products on a large scale.
The number of applications for graphene related patents and intellectual property rights has been increasing year by year, especially during the period of 2012-2014 when there was a surge. As shown in Figure 4, the number of global graphene patents in 2009 was 948. By 2013, the number of patent applications had reached 6116, which is six times that of 2009. The growth rate is extremely fast, reflecting that graphene has become a research hotspot in recent years. Figure 5 reflects that China's graphene research level is currently at the forefront of the international community, but some core graphene patents are still held by a few major countries. In recent years, global graphene technology patents have been shifting from preparation processes to downstream applications. In the future, graphene is expected to accelerate its integration with downstream application industries and promote the industrialization process of graphene.
China's graphene application patents are concentrated in the fields of lithium batteries, energy storage, composite materials, etc., with a relatively narrow layout and mostly dominated by higher education institutions, resulting in a certain degree of disconnect between research and application. How to change this situation, form a complete and mature industrial chain upstream and downstream, and develop products with higher cost-effectiveness in the future development of domestic graphene industrialization are urgent problems that need to be solved.
During the "2015 Top 10 Famous Enterprises/Figures in the Graphene Industry" selection event, numerous renowned experts, scholars, and entrepreneurs in the graphene industry were interviewed to discuss key topics such as the current research status, technical challenges, industrialization bottlenecks, and market size of graphene. The following excerpts are provided.
The winning path for graphene in the future is inevitably to move from dispersion to intensification
——Liu Zhongfan, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and professor at Peking University
Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and professor at Peking University, Liu Zhongfan, pointed out in an interview that whether it is basic research on graphene or early-stage research and development for industrialization, China has the highest level of attention to graphene and the largest research team. Since 2011, the total number of graphene articles and patent applications published by Chinese researchers has consistently ranked *************. But China has done too little research on graphene that requires time, patience, and financial investment for the future, which is one of the reasons why there is a gap between China's graphene research and that of the UK.
The research investment in graphene in the UK and the EU is quite concentrated, and they are committed to closely integrating basic research in universities with enterprises in policy guidance. The funding investment of the National Graphene Research Institute at the University of Manchester is comparable to that of China's Natural Science Foundation, and the 10-year total investment of the EU Graphene Flagship Project launched in 2013 reached 1 billion euros. This type of investment method makes resources more concentrated and can also achieve great things.
In contrast, the research on graphene in China is basically a spontaneous mass movement model, with a large number of people competing for a small piece of the cake, with very scattered investment and a lack of national level global planning, making it difficult to lay out long-term goals. In fact, this investment method often brings superficial prosperity and causes great waste of human, material, and financial resources. So in order for China to achieve true prosperity and development of graphene, it is necessary to integrate everyone and move from decentralization to intensification.
Graphene cannot cure all diseases with one medicine, solid research is the key
——Professor Chen Guohua from Huaqiao University
Professor Chen Guohua from Huaqiao University pointed out that graphene has always been a research hotspot due to its unique properties, attracting a lot of attention from local governments and numerous downstream enterprises. He believes that although graphene is hailed as a "new material that is about to revolutionize the 21st century", it is only a series of material varieties, and its essence is a type of carbon material. In the process of industrialization, it should be combined with the different characteristics of different varieties to achieve specific results, rather than "treating all diseases with one medicine".
Professor Chen Guohua also said that there is too much hype in the current graphene research achievements both in theory and industrialization, such as more follow-up papers and less original work in scientific research, the influx of capital markets in industrialization, excessive hype and exaggerated propaganda, and the use of graphene as a panacea to cure all diseases. These have brought many benefits to everyone, but also caused the drawbacks of instant success. The foam of false prosperity in industrialization has brought certain negative effects on graphene. Professor Chen Guohua emphasized that application research and development should be focused on, down-to-earth, and strive for perfection, without rushing to achieve results.
The claim that graphene can fully charge a phone in just a few seconds is not reliable
——Dr. Liu Zhaoping, Chief Scientist of Ningbo Moxi Technology
During the interview, Dr. Liu Zhaoping, the chief scientist of Ningbo Moxi Technology Co., Ltd. and a researcher of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, put forward his own view on the currently very popular view that "graphene can make mobile phones fully charged in a few seconds": there is no doubt that the application of graphene in the field of lithium batteries can improve the battery charging and discharging performance, but it is not as magical as this. It can make mobile phones fully charged in a few seconds. Graphene is a good thing, and its excellent electrical and thermal conductivity has brought great shock to the materials industry. However, the excessive hype of this gimmick in the media and capital markets has led to a false prosperity of graphene, which is not a good phenomenon.
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