Jan 29 2015
The National Physical Laboratory's (NPL) work developing advanced graphene measurement techniques features in an article published by The Engineer.
The article describes how NPL is working to provide the measurement capability needed to accelerate graphene's commercialisation. "Standards are particularly important for novel, revolutionary materials such as graphene," said Alexander Tzalenchuk of NPL's Quantum Detection Group. "Before any standard can be developed, we need to understand what kind of material we are dealing with and how it can be characterised."
The piece goes on to talk about NPL's work on microwave measurement - a characterisation technique which could be better suited to use in a manufacturing environment than more established techniques such as Raman spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy. JT Janssen explains: "Our existing [measurement] system uses quite expensive instruments, but we are developing a much simpler and cheaper version that is more suited to the production line."
The article also mentions NPL's partnership with The University of Manchester to further the commercialisation of graphene. A landmark agreement, signed last November, will see the two world-leading organisations work together on the development of graphene metrology, characterisation and standards vital to industry uptake.
Source: http://www.npl.co.uk/