Our Innovation Analysts recently looked into emerging technologies and up-and-coming startups working on solutions for the engineering sector. As there is a large number of startups working on a wide variety of solutions, we decided to share our insights with you. This time, we are taking a look at 4 promising graphene startups.
Heat Map: 4 Top Graphene Startups
For our 4 top picks, we used a data-driven startup scouting approach to identify the most relevant solutions globally. The Global Startup Heat Map below highlights 4 interesting examples out of 98 relevant solutions. Depending on your specific needs, your top picks might look entirely different.
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Graphenest – Printable Ink & Coating
Printable inks and coatings are vital to modern-day electronic devices as they represent an economical way of creating conductive traces, compared to copper-plated substrates or copper etchings. Graphene possesses the ideal combination of thermal, mechanical, and electrical properties. The ability of graphene coatings to adhere to all surfaces, combined with its high flexibility, makes this an important material for next-generation electronic devices.
Portuguese startup Graphenest manufactures graphene-based composites in the form of printable inks and coatings. Their graphene coatings have a broad set of applications for electronic components, automotive, medical devices, aerospace, and defense. Graphenest’s coatings are suitable for flexible and rigid surfaces. In addition, they offer good conductivity, weight reduction, and attenuation from radio to microwave frequency ranges.
Thermavance – Thermal Conductivity
Nowadays micro and nanoscale technologies are limited by their capability to dissipate heat that creates challenges while designing small devices. Graphene possesses high heat conductivity, allowing such microscale devices to benefit from using it as thermal interface materials.
The US-based company Thermavance manufactures a thermo-electric graphene-based module that regulates the flow of heat. Their technology utilizes the high thermal conductivity of graphene to create lightweight and flexible solutions for both indoor and outdoor applications such as garments and furniture.
Crayonano – Ultraviolet Light Emitting Diodes (UV LED)
Graphene’s properties of high electrical and thermal conductivity make it a superior choice for LED Lighting. Compared to other traditional forms of lighting, graphene-based LED operates at a higher brightness, dissipates more heat, and reduces overall energy consumption.
Norwegian startup Crayonano is a UV LED manufacturer whose technology focuses on water disinfection, air purification, food processing, and life sciences applications. They use a method of growing nanowires on a substrate of graphene which results in a UV LED with higher efficiency at a lower cost of production, as well as longer operating lifetime and a larger amount of light generated.
Graphtech – Nanoplates
Graphene nanoplates consist of layers of graphene-based materials that are only 5-10 nanometres in thickness, used for replacing carbon fiber and carbon nanotubes. However, the high costs involved in the large-scale production of nanoplates limits its wide-scale adoption. Further research and development of nanoplates technology are set to improve manufacturing in terms of performance, efficiency, and lower costs of production.
The Spanish company Graphtech specializes in large-scale production of graphene nanoplates for various applications such as automotive, aerospace, electronics, and pharma. Their patented manufacturing process allows for customized and cost-effective solutions that are customized to adapt to the specific industrial requirements.
What About The Other 94 Graphene Startups?
While we believe data is key to creating insights it can be easy to be overwhelmed by it. Our ambition is to create a comprehensive overview and provide actionable innovation intelligence for your Proof of Concept (PoC), partnership, or investment targets. The 4 startups showcased above are promising examples out of 98 we analyzed for this article. To identify the most relevant solutions based on your specific criteria and collaboration strategy, get in touch.
