India needs to catch up in the research and production of Graphene, which is the defining material of this age.

What is Graphene?

• Definition: Graphene is the world’s thinnest, strongest, and most conductive material of both electricity and heat.
• Conductivity: It conducts electricity better than copper.
• Strength: It is 200 times stronger than steel but six times lighter.
• Capability: It is almost perfectly transparent as it absorbs only 2% of light. It is impermeable to gases, even those as light as hydrogen and helium.
• Potential: It has the potential to revolutionise electricity, conductivity, energy generation, batteries, sensors and more.
• Also, when added to other materials, graphene even in small quantities produces composite materials with dramatically transformed qualities.

Uses:

• Graphene composites are used in aerospace, automotive, sports equipment and construction.
• It is used for high-performance batteries and super-capacitors, touchscreens, and conductive inks.
• Graphene-based sensors are used for environmental monitoring, healthcare and wearable devices.
• Graphene oxide membranes are used for water purification and desalination.
• Graphene-based masks were made during COVID.

Feature and Application:

• Graphene is important for defence and aerospace as well.
• Its exceptional strength makes it promising material for armour and ballistic protection.
• Graphene has the potential to absorb and dissipate electromagnetic waves, making it valuable for developing stealth coatings and materials that reduce radar signatures and electromagnetic interference.
• Graphene is highly sensitive to environmental changes, which makes it an excellent candidate for sensing chemical and biological agents, explosives, radiation, and other hazardous substances.
• The graphene-based materials can also protect us against chemical and biological attacks.
• Better energy storage and electronics properties make graphene attractive in defence and aerospace as well as in civil and commercial applications.

Production of Graphene:

• China and Brazil are global leaders in the commercial production of graphene.
• India produces about one-twentieth compared to China and one-third compared to Brazil.

India’s progress

• The Centre for Nano Science and Engineering at IISc Bangalore along with KAS Tech produced a graphene-based system several years ago.
• Tata Steel has succeeded in growing graphene (about 50 micrometers large domains) using annealing and extracting atomic carbon from steel surface.
• It has also mixed graphene with used plastic products to recycle them as new.
• India’s niche is going to be innovation using graphene. It figured out how graphene oxide-based wrappers loaded with preservatives can increase the shelf life of fruits and vegetables.
• The IIT Roorkee-incubated Log 9 has patented a technology for graphene-based ultracapacitors, and the IIT Kanpur-incubated RF Nanocomposites has developed EMI shielding and stealth technology using graphene-based nanotubes.