Manchester to house new graphene hub
MANCHESTER is to become the base for the new Government-funded ‘hub’ set up to fund the commercial exploitation of graphene.
The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) has confirmed that the University of Manchester is the sole institution that has been invited to submit a proposal for a new £45m institute – £38m of which is being provided by the Government.
EPSRC said that the “world-class” facility for graphene research and commercialisation would be accessible both for researchers and business. It will provide specialist facilities and equipment which will enable the simulation of manufacturing processes.
Graphene was discovered by Nobel prize winners Dr Andre Geim and Kontstantin Novosolev in 2004. It is the world’s thinnest, strongest and most conductive material – less than an atom thick and 200-times stronger than steel.
The Government made its initial announcement that it would fund a £50m hub in October, which will connect researchers at different universities who have been studying potential uses of the material.
Science minister David Willetts said: “This significant investment in graphene will drive growth and innovation, create high-tech jobs and keep the UK at the very forefront of this rapidly evolving area of science.
“With a Nobel Prize and hundreds of published papers under their belts, scientists in the UK have already demonstrated that we have real strengths in this area. The graphene hub will build on this by taking this research through to commercial success.”
EPSRC said that Manchester was “an acknowledged research leader” in graphene.
Professor Andre Geim said: “Creating a national graphene institute here at The University of Manchester would allow our world-class scientists and researchers to further explore the limitless potential of graphene.
“To have such a facility here is a testament to the expertise at the University and will offer fantastic opportunities for Manchester researchers to work closely with industry and business.”
Meanwhile, a paper published by the Manchester University research team said that it had opened a new dimension in their research which could allow the material to be used in the IT industry.
Graphene was thought to be too conductive to be used as a replacement for silicon when making computer chips, but the team has altered the way in which graphene was used and created transistors to provide what Dr Leonid Ponomarenko described as “a conceptually new approach to graphene electronics”.
“Our transistors already work pretty well. I believe they can be improved much further, scaled down to nanometre sizes and work at sub-THz frequencies.
“It is a new vista for graphene research and chances for graphene-based electronics never looked better than they are now,” he said.
