Manchester flattens out graphene agreement

Manchester University and the UK’s National Physical Laboratory (NPL) have signed a memorandum of understanding that will see them work together to commercialise graphene.

The new partnership will see the launch of a joint centre of excellence. The university and the laboratory are hoping their combined forces will allow them to develop graphene to an industrially viable standard.

The material was originally discovered at Manchester. Despite being atom-thick and made up only of carbon molecules, the material has electronic conductivity and physical strength and flexibility far beyond any other material.

Manchester has already spun out a company to exploit the material, 2-DTech, which was acquired by Versarien for £440,000 ($742,000) in April 2014.

James Baker, business director at Manchester’s National Graphene Institute, said: “With this new partnership, Manchester University and NPL are showing joint determination to lead the way in graphene applications. The metrology expertise based at NPL, paired with the world class academics, state of the art equipment and facilities at Manchester University and National Graphene Institute allows for viable graphene based products to come to the marketplace sooner.”