How sustainability is driving 2D material innovation

You’d expect me to argue that the future of graphene lies in sustainability, but the fact is, the graphene and 2D material sector is already being driven by innovations designed to tackle the climate crisis. Advanced materials research used to be driven by defence and heavy industry; the search to make applications ever stronger, lighter, faster. Now, ‘graphenes’ research is being pushed forward more quickly by companies focused on sustainability and in achieving the various goals and targets towards net-zero. This is proven by our partnership base. Over 80% of our current projects, have sustainability at their core.

The need to reuse scarce resources and reduce our impact on the environment is already directing an innovation agenda around both products and applications. Here are just five examples of projects we’ve supported:

1. Water. Molymem Ltd. , a spin-out based at Manchester, has a mission to enable cleaner water supplies for the world's growing demand, and has developed an energy-efficient and highly versatile membrane coating, based around a material called modified molybdenum disulphide (MoS2), to create an innovative water filtration solution.?This new membrane not only performs as well, or better, than existing materials in removing salts and nitrates from water but does it at a much lower cost – making it the greener and cheaper option.

2. CO2 emissions. In construction, we’re looking to ultimately eliminate the use of cement, given cement contributes around 8-10% of global CO2. Innovations like Concretene add graphene into the process to dramatically strengthen the material, meaning much less cement is needed and emissions are dramatically reduced. Meanwhile Graphene Innovations Manchester’s concrete product is being developed from a fusion of graphene, polymers, and additives, which eliminates 88% of CO2 emissions by abstaining from the use of cement.

3. Batteries. Watercycle Technologies – a Manchester spin-out company that specialises in recovery of scarce minerals through filtration – has developed a filtration process which can selectively extract lithium from sub-surface waters, such as those found in the southwest of the UK. Given lithium’s essential role in battery technologies, the ability to obtain it from water cost-effectively and establish a domestic supply of the mineral, is vital for the UK’s Net Zero strategy.?We’re also working with companies like Nanoplexus Ltd and PETRONAS , looking at new forms of battery technology that can be more efficient, using less energy, with greater performance.

4. Plastics. Graphene Innovations Manchester founded by Dr Vivek Koncherry , a Manchester alumnus, has been driving a range of innovations, including the development of a sustainable waste upcycling platform, utilising graphene as an additive to transform ground waste tires and plastics into high-quality, durable products. He was recently awarded the Spectator’s Innovator of the Year Award for Excellence in Sustainability.

5. Local supply chains. Graphene can now be produced from waste, via methane, e.g. Levidian who through decarboniation by taking methane to create Hydrogen and graphene, providing the potential for a circular economy through local supply chains – rather than looking to import scarce rare metals, which have both a greater environmental impact, and are often difficult to obtain in times of conflict and political instability.

This represents sustainable innovation without compromise. Using recycled materials, at lower cost. Concretene is a good example of this – its quicker cure time reduces the energy you need to use, so now you have a product with greater performance, at a lower cost. And companies like Manchester-based Vector Group are now working? on employing graphene-enhanced recycled materials to produce the standardised components of its houses, leading to a greatly reduced embodied carbon, avoiding contributing to deforestation, quarrying or mining, and reducing the costs of construction.

As #COP28 brings the world together once again, to agree on transformative, results-orientated climate action, Manchester teams are developing innovations which are guided by the principles of using less for more, focussed on the role of scarce materials within supply chains. Yet there’s not just an environmental imperative to progress this research, there’s a clear commercial one too.