Global market capitalization of leading graphene companies 2024
The Canadian corporation NanoXplore led the market for graphene producing companies worldwide as of September 2024, with an estimated market capitalization of 280.88 million U.S. dollars at that time. NanoXplore specializes in the development of graphene-based formulations that can be used to improve the performance of materials such as thermoplastic and thermoset polymers. The company produces a graphene powder consisting of six to ten atomic layers.
Forms of graphene
Graphene nanoplatelets are basically stacked sheets of platelet-shaped graphene. These stacked layers of graphene sheets are composed of the same material as carbon nanotubes and so share many similar characteristics. There is potential for nanoplatelets to be combined with other materials to create very light and ultra-strong composite materials, which could be used to reinforce vehicles or provide anti-rust coatings. The global market value of graphene nanoplatelets is expected to exceed 100 million U.S. dollars in 2023.
How is graphene produced?
There are a number of ways to produce graphene; some are more technical than others. One method involves heating copper at a very high temperature and introducing methane, which causes graphene to grow on both sides of the copper. A much simpler method was used by two researchers at The University of Manchester when they originally isolated the first ever two-dimensional material in 2004. Thin flakes of carbon were extracted from graphite using sticky tape. The researchers repeatedly peeled the flakes until they became so thin that specialist equipment had to be used to determine the number of individual graphene layers within the flakes.
