Tag Archives: Elena Polyakova

Graphene Malaysia 2016 gathering and Malaysia’s National Graphene Action Plan 2020

Malaysia is getting ready to host a graphene conference according to an Oct. 10, 2016 news item on Nanotechnology Now,

The Graphene Malaysia 2016 [Nov. 8 – 9, 2016] (www.graphenemalaysiaconf.com) is jointly organized by NanoMalaysia Berhad and Phantoms Foundation. The conference will be centered on graphene industry interaction and collaborative innovation. The event will be launched under the National Graphene Action Plan 2020 (NGAP 2020), which will generate about 9,000 jobs and RM20 (US$4.86) billion GNI impact by the year 2020.

First speakers announced:
Murni Ali (Nanomalaysia, Malaysia) | Francesco Bonaccorso (Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Italy) | Antonio Castro Neto (NUS, Singapore) | Antonio Correia (Phantoms Foundation, Spain)| Pedro Gomez-Romero (ICN2 (CSIC-BIST), Spain) | Shu-Jen Han (Nanoscale Science & Technology IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, USA) | Kuan-Tsae Huang (AzTrong, USA/Taiwan) | Krzysztof Koziol (FGV Cambridge Nanosystems, UK) | Taavi Madiberk (Skeleton Technologies, Estonia) | Richard Mckie (BAE Systems, UK) | Pontus Nordin (Saab AB, Saab Aeronautics, Sweden) | Elena Polyakova (Graphene Laboratories Inc., USA) | Ahmad Khairuddin Abdul Rahim (Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA), Malaysia) | Adisorn Tuantranont (Thailand Organic and Printed Electronics Innovation Center, Thailand) |Archana Venugopal (Texas Instruments, USA) | Won Jong Yoo (Samsung-SKKU Graphene-2D Center (SSGC), South Korea) | Hongwei Zhu (Tsinghua University, China)

You can check for more information and deadlines in the Nanotechnology Now Oct. 10, 2016 news item.

The Graphene Malalysia 2016 conference website can be found here and Malaysia’s National Graphene Action Plan 2020, which is well written, can be found here (PDF).  This portion from the executive summary offers some insight into Malyasia’s plans to launch itself into the world of high income nations,

Malaysia’s aspiration to become a high-income nation by 2020 with improved jobs and better outputs is driving the country’s shift away from “business as usual,” and towards more innovative and high value add products. Within this context, and in accordance with National policies and guidelines, Graphene, an emerging, highly versatile carbon-based nanomaterial, presents a unique opportunity for Malaysia to develop a high value economic ecosystem within its industries.  Isolated only in 2004, Graphene’s superior physical properties such as electrical/ thermal conductivity, high strength and high optical transparency, combined with its manufacturability have raised tremendous possibilities for its application across several functions and make it highly interesting for several applications and industries.  Currently, Graphene is still early in its development cycle, affording Malaysian companies time to develop their own applications instead of relying on international intellectual property and licenses.

Considering the potential, several leading countries are investing heavily in associated R&D. Approaches to Graphene research range from an expansive R&D focus (e.g., U.S. and the EU) to more focused approaches aimed at enhancing specific downstream applications with Graphene (e.g., South Korea). Faced with the need to push forward a multitude of development priorities, Malaysia must be targeted in its efforts to capture Graphene’s potential, both in terms of “how to compete” and “where to compete”. This National Graphene Action Plan 2020 lays out a set of priority applications that will be beneficial to the country as a whole and what the government will do to support these efforts.

Globally, much of the Graphene-related commercial innovation to date has been upstream, with producers developing techniques to manufacture Graphene at scale. There has also been some development in downstream sectors, as companies like Samsung, Bayer MaterialScience, BASF and Siemens explore product enhancement with Graphene in lithium-ion battery anodes and flexible displays, and specialty plastic and rubber composites. However the speed of development has been uneven, offering Malaysian industries willing to invest in innovation an opportunity to capture the value at stake. Since any innovation action plan has to be tailored to the needs and ambitions of local industry, Malaysia will focus its Graphene action plan initially on larger domestic industries (e.g., rubber) and areas already being targeted by the government for innovation such as energy storage for electric vehicles and conductive inks.

In addition to benefiting from the physical properties of Graphene, Malaysian downstream application providers may also capture the benefits of a modest input cost advantage for the domestic production of Graphene.  One commonly used Graphene manufacturing technique, the chemical vapour deposition (CVD) production method, requires methane as an input, which can be sourced economically from local biomass. While Graphene is available commercially from various producers around the world, downstream players may be able to enjoy some cost advantage from local Graphene supply. In addition, co-locating with a local producer for joint product development has the added benefit of speeding up the R&D lifecycle.

That business about finding downstream applications could also to the Canadian situation where we typically offer our resources (upstream) but don’t have an active downstream business focus. For example, we have graphite mines in Ontario and Québec which supply graphite flakes for graphene production which is all upstream. Less well developed are any plans for Canadian downstream applications.

Finally, it was interesting to note that the Phantoms Foundation is organizing this Malaysian conference since the same organization is organizing the ‘2nd edition of Graphene & 2D Materials Canada 2016 International Conference & Exhibition’ (you can find out more about the Oct. 18 – 20, 2016 event in my Sept. 23, 2016 posting). I think the Malaysians have a better title for their conference, far less unwieldy.

Canada and some graphene scene tidbits

For a long time It seemed as if every country in the world, except Canada, had some some sort of graphene event. According to a July 16, 2015 news item on Nanotechnology Now, Canada has now stepped up, albeit, in a peculiarly Canadian fashion. First the news,

Mid October [Oct. 14 -16, 2015], the Graphene & 2D Materials Canada 2015 International Conference & Exhibition (www.graphenecanada2015.com) will take place in Montreal (Canada).

I found a July 16, 2015 news release (PDF) announcing the Canadian event on the lead organizer’s (Phantoms Foundation located in Spain) website,

On the second day of the event (15th October, 2015), an Industrial Forum will bring together top industry leaders to discuss recent advances in technology developments and business opportunities in graphene commercialization.
At this stage, the event unveils 38 keynote & invited speakers. On the Industrial Forum 19 of them will present the latest in terms of Energy, Applications, Production and Worldwide Initiatives & Priorities.

Plenary:
Gary Economo (Grafoid Inc., Canada)
Khasha Ghaffarzadeh (IDTechEx, UK)
Shu-Jen Han (IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, USA)
Bor Z. Jang (Angstron Materials, USA)
Seongjun Park (Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT), Korea)
Chun-Yun Sung (Lockheed Martin, USA)

Parallel Sessions:
Gordon Chiu (Grafoid Inc., Canada)
Jesus de la Fuente (Graphenea, Spain)
Mark Gallerneault (ALCERECO Inc., Canada)
Ray Gibbs (Haydale Graphene Industries, UK)
Masataka Hasegawa (AIST, Japan)
Byung Hee Hong (SNU & Graphene Square, Korea)
Tony Ling (Jestico + Whiles, UK)
Carla Miner (SDTC, Canada)
Gregory Pognon (THALES Research & Technology, France)
Elena Polyakova (Graphene Laboratories Inc, USA)
Federico Rosei (INRS–EMT, Université du Québec, Canada)
Aiping Yu (University of Waterloo, Canada)
Hua Zhang (MSE-NTU, Singapore)

Apart from the industrial forum, several industry-related activities will be organized:
– Extensive thematic workshops in parallel (Standardization, Materials & Devices Characterization, Bio & Health and Electronic Devices)
– An exhibition carried out with the latest graphene trends (Grafoid, RAYMOR NanoIntegris, Nanomagnetics Instruments, ICEX and Xerox Research Centre of Canada (XRCC) already confirmed)
– B2B meetings to foster technical cooperation in the field of Graphene

It’s still possible to contribute to the event with an oral presentation. The call for abstracts is open until July, 20 [2015]. [emphasis mine]

Graphene Canada 2015 is already supported by Canada’s leading graphene applications developer, Grafoid Inc., Tourisme Montréal and Université de Montréal.

This is what makes the event peculiarly Canadian: multiculturalism, anyone? From the news release,

Organisers: Phantoms Foundation www.phantomsnet.net & Grafoid Foundation (lead organizers)

CEMES/CNRS (France) | Grafoid (Canada) | Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology – ICN2 (Spain) | IIT (Italy) | McGill University, Canada | Texas Instruments (USA) | Université Catholique de Louvain (Belgium) | Université de Montreal, Canada

It’s billed as a ‘Canada Graphene 2015’ and, as I recall, these types of events don’t usually have so many other countries listed as organizers. For example, UK Graphene 2015 would have mostly or all of its organizers (especially the leads) located in the UK.

Getting to the Canadian content, I wrote about Grafoid at length tracking some of its relationships to companies it owns, a business deal with Hydro Québec, and a partnership with the University of Waterloo, and a nonrepayable grant from the Canadian federal government (Sustainable Development Technology Canada [SDTC]) in a Feb. 23, 2015 posting. Do take a look at the post if you’re curious about the heavily interlinked nature of the Canadian graphene scene and take another look at the list of speakers and their agencies (Mark Gallerneault of ALCERECO [partially owned by Grafoid], Carla Miner of SDTC [Grafoid received monies from the Canadian federal department],  Federico Rosei of INRS–EMT, Université du Québec [another Quebec link], Aiping Yu, University of Waterloo [an academic partner to Grafoid]). The Canadian graphene community is a small one so it’s not surprising there are links between the Canadian speakers but it does seem odd that Lomiko Metals is not represented here. Still, new speakers have been announced since the news release (e.g., Frank Koppens of ICFO, Spain, and Vladimir Falko of Lancaster University, UK) so  time remains.

Meanwhile, Lomiko Metals has announced in a July 17, 2015 news item on Azonano that Graphene 3D labs has changed the percentage of its outstanding shares affecting the percentage that Lomiko owns, amid some production and distribution announcements. The bit about launching commercial sales of its graphene filament seems more interesting to me,

On March 16, 2015 Graphene 3D Lab (TSXV:GGG) (OTCQB:GPHBF) announced that it launched commercial sales of its Conductive Graphene Filament for 3D printing. The filament incorporates highly conductive proprietary nano-carbon materials to enhance the properties of PLA, a widely used thermoplastic material for 3D printing; therefore, the filament is compatible with most commercially available 3D printers. The conductive filament can be used to print conductive traces (similar to as used in circuit boards) within 3D printed parts for electronics.

So, that’s all I’ve got for Canada’s graphene scene.

Water-soluble 3D filament from Graphene 3D Lab

This is almost a Canadian nanotech story since one of the company’s chief investors is Canadian and the announcement is being made at an event held at Mohawk College in Hamilton, Ontario. From an April 30, 2015 news item on Azonano,

… Graphene 3D Lab Inc. will announce details of a newly-developed water-soluble 3D filament at the Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters’ (CME) Canada Makes: Additive Manufacturing Forum at Mohawk College in Hamilton, Ontario on April 30, 2015. The water-soluble filament is the latest in a line of specialty-functional filaments that Graphene 3D is introducing to the 3D printing industry.

An April 30, 2015 Graphene 3D Lab news release provides more detail,

Elena Polyakova, Chief Operating Officer of Graphene 3D, will present details on the new water-soluble filament and discuss the effect of graphene-enhanced materials for the 3D printing industry.

Water-soluble filaments are primarily used to occupy negative space during a 3D print. These filaments are essentially used to fill gaps designed in objects and allow the print to be suspended over air. Following the completion of the printing process, the object can be placed in water, and the water-soluble material will completely dissolve, leaving empty space.

Daniel Stolyarov, President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, “We are very pleased with performance characteristics that our R&D team designed into this new industry leading filament. This filament is completely environmentally-friendly, non-toxic, dissolves completely in water in approximately 1 hour, and leaves no residual material.” The water-soluble filament will work in most commercially available 3D printers and Graphene 3D expects to have them to market within 3 months. Daniel continues, “This filament reflects the core objectives of Graphene 3D. We are creating products that allow innovative designers to do more with 3D printing and are expanding the possibilities within the 3D printing environment.”

About Graphene 3D
Graphene 3D is in the business of developing, manufacturing and marketing specialty 3D printer materials, including proprietary nanocomposite materials for various types of 3D printing. The Company is also involved in the design, manufacture and marketing of 3D printers and related products for domestic and international customers.

The Graphene 3D research and production facility is located in Calverton, NY and is equipped with material processing and analytical equipment. The company has four US patent applications pending for its technology. For more information on Graphene 3D Lab Inc., visit www.graphene3dlab.com.

As for Canadian content (beyond the announcement location), the news item on Azonano notes,

Lomiko Metals 100%-owned subsidiary Lomiko Technologies Inc. has and will continue to hold its 4,396,100 share investment in Graphene 3D Lab for the long term.

Lomiko Metals is located in the Vancouver metro region of Canadian province British Columbia.

Lomiko Metals and Graphene Laboratories announce 3D printing spinoff company

A Nov. 25, 2013 news item on Azonano announces a new 3D printing company, Graphene 3D Labs,

LOMIKO METALS INC. (the “Company”) announced today the formation of Graphene 3D Labs Inc. to focus on the development of high-performance graphene-enhanced materials for 3D Printing. Dr. Daniel Stolyarov of Graphene Laboratories Inc. (“Graphene Labs”) was appointed CEO and Dr. Michael Gouzman, a leading expert in 3D Printing, was appointed VP of Engineering and Technology.

On February 12, 2013 the Company had entered into a Strategic Alliance Agreement (“SAA”) with Graphene Labs. The creation of Graphene 3D Labs, a spin-out of Graphene Labs, is a result of R&D efforts during the duration of the SAA.

It’s been a busy year for Lomiko Metals (based in Surrey, BC, Canada) as per my April 17, 2013 posting about its graphite flake testing and its graphite mine (Quatre Milles) in Québec and my May 30, 2013 posting about its agreement/strategic alliance with the Research Foundation of Stony Brook University (RF) based in New York State. This latest effort according to the Nov. 22, 2013 Lomiko Metals news release, which originated the news item, describes the reasons for creating a spinout company to pursue applications,

3D Printing is a new and promising manufacturing technology that has garnered much interest, growing from uses in prototyping to everyday products. Today, it is a billion dollar industry growing at a brisk pace. New developments in 3D printing will allow products with different components such as printed electronic circuits, sensors or batteries to be manufactured.

High quality graphite is a base material for producing graphene. Lomiko will provide graphite to Graphene 3D Labs as the exclusive supplier to Graphene 3D Labs and invest $ 50,000 in the start-up for 250,000 preferred shares which are entitled to dividends. Lomiko will require a minimum of $ 300,000 financing by May 1, 2014 to participate in the venture and further financings to participate in a series of graphene-related ventures in addition to work on a graphite resource at the Quatre Milles Project. The transaction is arm’s length and subject to the approval of the TSX. [Toronto Stock Exchange]

“Our involvement in Graphene 3D Labs is a concrete first step into the world of Graphene, 3D Printing and Printed Electronics. This is a rapidly developing new market for high quality naturalgraphite.” stated A. Paul Gill, CEO from the Graphene Live! Conference in Santa Clara, California held November 19-22, 2013.

Dr. Elena Polyakova, CEO of Graphene Labs, was a speaker on Graphene Live! and stated, “We anticipate graphene-enabled materials to revolutionize 3D printing. We anticipate strong demand in airspace, automotive, semi-conductor and advanced manufacturing industries.”

Currently Lomiko and Graphene Labs are working toward the integration of graphene-based products into end-user goods as set out in the Strategic Alliance. [emphasis mine] Lomiko’s high quality graphite and the extensive customer database cultivated by the experts at Graphene Labs will prove indispensable to reaching production and commercialization goals.

This business of developing a market for your raw materials is an approach the folks at CelluForce in Quebec and the new CNC (cellulow nanocrytals, aka, nanocystalline cellulose [NCC]) plant in Alberta might consider taking, if they haven’t already. (Note: My Nov. 19, 2013 posting both announces the new CNC in Alberta and makes mention of the CNC stockpile in  Québec.)

You can find out more about Graphene Laboratories here and about Graphene 3D Laboratories here. For anyone interested in the Graphene Live! conference, (Nov. 20-21, 2013), there will be presentations and audio available soon (as of Nov. 25, 2013) according to the website.