Graphene is a material with many unique properties which could lead to numerous exciting applications in many different areas such as ICT, Advanced Materials, Biotechnology, etc. However, graphene has not yet lived up to these high expectations and so far the commercial exploitation is limited. The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) hosted a conference to explore how the scientific knowledge gained in laboratories and research institutions could potentially be used more effectively to accelerate the use of graphene in applications. The NPL Graphene Conference was held on 15-16 October 2012 attracting over 100 delegates and a long list of internationally renowned speakers.

An important first step when developing an emerging technology is to build a measurement infrastructure. This allows researchers to properly characterise materials and is vital for ensuring that manufactured products fall within necessary tolerances. Measurement, standards, testing, inspection and certification all have a role to play in making products based on novel materials such as graphene a commercial success.

For new technologies to be integrated into production chains and advanced manufacturing processes, we need to understand and agree upon their performance characteristics. The electrical properties of graphene can change, for example, with the number of graphene layers or with impurities present on the surface. Therefore, we need to develop measurements to assess layer thickness and detect impurities, with the necessary level of accuracy to ensure that the graphene will perform as it is expected to.

NPL exists at the heart of UK measurement science and is working to develop the measurements vital for characterising graphene and its associated properties. For these to be comprehensive, research is undertaken across different scientific disciplines and with support from academic and industrial partners. NPL scientists use quantum metrology and nanoanalysis techniques to sustain and extend the performance of graphene based electronic devices and use graphene itself as a quantum resistance standard. This standard is based on the quantised quantum Hall effect, which was discovered by the keynote speaker at the NPL Graphene Conference, Professor Dr Klaus von Klitzing. Von Klitzing's talk on the Quantum Hall Effect was a great start to the conference and introduced a fundamental aspect of transport in graphene.

While graphene is lauded for its exceptional electronic properties, talks by Professor Rositza Yakimova (Linkoping University) and Dr Christos Dimitrakopoulos (IBM) showed how these properties critically depend on growth mechanism, interaction with the substrate and device fabrication.

The potential of graphene was made clear by presentations on the future applications and experimental updates of graphene based spintronics, flexible electronics, and plasmonics. NPL's JT Janssen spoke about graphene based metrology and highlighted the first application of graphene, as a resistance standard. 'The graphene roadmap to applications' by Professor Andrea Ferrari (University of Cambridge) highlighted the potential of the material and its future market. It covered the challenges faced by researchers and led to discussions on carbon nanotubes, which, much like graphene, have failed to live up to expectations. Researchers were urged to look into novel science and applications of graphene rather than replicating the current technologies. Talks on growth by Luigi Columbo (Texas Instruments) and Jong Min Kim (University of Oxford and ex-Samsung) highlighted the differences in approach in industry while showing what can be achieved. The industry-focused talks demonstrated the current capabilities and this combined well with those from researchers that looked at how to push the boundaries forward, both in graphene knowledge and application.

A workshop was held on the second day of the conference to demonstrate some of NPL's current and future work on graphene characterisation. Several University and Research Laboratory groups have since approached NPL to perform measurements on their graphene samples - samples which will, in turn, help the progress of NPL's structural and chemical characterisation research.

There was also a session during the conference on the collaborative ConceptGraphene project, which is funded by the European Union within the 7th Framework Programme.

For more information, please contact Lekshmi Joseph