7 Graphene
7.1 Graphene Microchips
Kollewe
Graphene, a 2D form of carbon, with the atoms arranged in a hexagonal structure, is mainly used to strengthen concrete and paints, but is now being touted as a replacement for silicon in semiconductors. China has started using it to get ahead in the global microchip wars.
Graphene, hailed as a “super material”, is extracted from graphite, the crystalline form of carbon used to make pencils, and comes as a latticed sheet just one atom thick. Thomas believes it will “fundamentally change the world”, altering the way everything from mobile phones and computers to electric cars, healthcare and military equipment is manufactured.
Smartphones made using the material could be worn on your wrist, and graphene tablets could be rolled up like a newspaper, according to the University of Manchester, where, in 2004, graphene was first produced.
Potential uses include quantum computing, magnetic sensors in a new generation of MRI scanners, and consumer technology such as delivery drones.
Graphene is one of the strongest and thinnest materials in existence, much tougher than steel but lighter than paper, harder than a diamond but more elastic than rubber. It is also highly effective at conducting heat and electricity.
In its Somersham lab, two reactors – big boxes whose main part is shaped like a pizza oven – produce enough graphene to make 150,000 sensors a day. Paragraf uses the material in two ways: to measure magnetic fields, and to convert micro-organisms such as bacteria and viruses into electrical signals by combining graphene with a wet layer of chemistry as a biosensor.
Paragraf has thrown its weight behind biosensors, which can detect the difference between viral and bacterial infections to determine whether a person needs antibiotics. It can also reveal the presence of conditions such as Covid-19, or spot infectious diseases in plants or animals.
China has tried to corner the market in graphene. An estimated 5,000 companies are now working on graphene products there.
Huawei uses graphene in its Pocket S clamshell phone, and Apple is reportedly testing graphene films for the iPhone 16, to avoid overheating.
China even declared that it would mass-produce microchips by using graphene instead of silicon, making a full transition by 2025, though the claim was met with scepticism in the west.