Breakthrough could make graphene 100 times cheaper

Widespread manufacture of the material - which consists of sheets of carbon just one atom thick - has so far been limited to some degree by cost. One of the primary methods for producing graphene is chemical vapour deposition, or CVD. This turns gaseous reactants into a film of graphene on a substrate. Though many materials can act as the substrate, copper is one of the most common.

Up until now an expensive type of copper has been needed, and it has often had to be treated before it was suitable as a substrate. But the Glasgow researchers have developed a similar method that produces high-grade graphene from commercially available copper, making the process around 100 times cheaper than current techniques.

“Our process produces high-quality graphene at low cost, taking us one step closer to creating affordable new electronic devices with a wide range of applications, from the smart cities of the future to mobile healthcare,” said Dr Ravinder Dahiya from Glasgow University’s School of Engineering.