It’s no exaggeration to describe the current state of graphene industry development as “half flame, half sea”—on one hand, research and technology in its preparation continue to mature, attracting both capital and academic enthusiasm; on the other hand, large-scale applications frequently hit cold water, and industrialization urgently needs a breakthrough.

However, this situation in the development of the graphene industry is expected to be broken soon, and the industrialization of graphene is entering the dawn.

On June 16, the China-Canada Graphene Industry and Application Seminar was held as scheduled at the CITIC Securities Building in Beijing. The seminar not only attracted experts, scholars, and business representatives from China’s graphite industry, but also received strong support from the Graphite Professional Committee of the China Non-Metallic Mineral Industry Association and the Commercial Section of the Canadian Embassy in China.

According to the seminar, although the industrialization of graphene faces challenges such as technological hurdles, market issues, and cost concerns, it is encouraging that graphene is expected to be included in the major new materials initiative of the 13th Five-Year Plan. Moreover, graphene research and development as well as its industrialization will occupy a significant position in the science and technology development plan for the 13th Five-Year Period.

It’s not an isolated case. Recently, the China Graphene Industry Alliance held a press conference and announced that, due to constraints in both preparation and application technologies, graphene cannot yet be industrialized on a large scale. However, the prospects for graphene’s industrialization remain promising.

According to estimates by the China Graphene Industry Alliance, global annual graphene production capacity has now reached the hundred-ton level and is expected to reach the thousand-ton level within the next five to ten years. By 2020, the global graphene market size will exceed 100 billion yuan, with China accounting for 50% to 80% of that figure. As a result, China will play a leading and pivotal role in the global graphene industry.

The Charm of the “King of New Materials”

Graphene is a two-dimensional crystal composed of carbon atoms, with a thickness of just one atomic layer. When graphene layers are stacked on top of each other, they form graphite. In fact, graphene naturally exists in nature; it’s just that it’s extremely difficult to separate it into single-layer structures.

In 2004, British physicists Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov successfully isolated graphene from graphite, demonstrating that it could exist independently. Since the discovery of graphene, research and development efforts in the industry have steadily intensified, and the awarding of the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics further propelled the industry to new heights.

As the thinnest, strongest, and most conductive—both electrically and thermally—new nanomaterial discovered to date, graphene is hailed as the “king of new materials.” It combines exceptional mechanical, electrical, thermal-conductivity, and barrier properties in one material, making it capable of replacing conventional materials and potentially triggering numerous technological revolutions. Its application prospects are virtually limitless. Indeed, scientists predict that graphene will “completely transform the 21st century” and is highly likely to spark a disruptive new-technology and new-industry revolution sweeping across the globe.

Currently, R&D efforts related to graphene have been listed as key support projects in the field of new materials by countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Japan, and South Korea. Compared with other countries, these nations are relatively advanced in the industrial-scale development of graphene.

In fact, since 2012, the Chinese government has consistently paid close attention to and attached great importance to the development of the graphene industry.

In January 2012, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released the “12th Five-Year Plan for the New Materials Industry,” designating cutting-edge new materials as a key development priority and actively promoting the development of new materials such as nanomaterial powders and graphene.

In September 2014, the Ministry of Science and Technology released the “863 Program for Scientific and Technological Development,” designating graphene research and development as one of its key areas of support. In November 2014, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the “Implementation Plan for the Upgrade and Replacement of Key Materials,” specifying that by 2016, around 20 key new materials—including graphene—essential for the development of emerging industries would achieve stable mass production and large-scale application.

Since 2015, China has significantly stepped up its policy support for graphene. In February, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the “Notice on Issuing the Key Tasks for the Transformation and Development of the Raw Materials Industry in 2015,” calling for the development of special action plans for graphene and other materials, as well as the establishment of joint innovation centers for new materials such as carbon fiber, graphene, and rare earths. These centers are tasked with making breakthroughs in common technologies, specialized equipment, and high-end product varieties. In May and October, the State Council released “Made in China 2025” and the “Technology Roadmap for Key Areas of ‘Made in China 2025,’ ” respectively. These documents set forth a development goal for the graphene industry: achieving an industrial scale of 10 billion yuan by 2020 and exceeding 100 billion yuan in overall industrial scale by 2025. They also laid out a medium- and long-term development roadmap for graphene and incorporated it into the “Thirteenth Five-Year Plan for the New Materials Industry.” In November, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Science and Technology jointly issued the “Several Opinions on Accelerating the Innovative Development of the Graphene Industry,” proposing that by 2018, a sound industrial ecosystem featuring positive interactions among key links—such as graphene material preparation, application development, and end-use applications—will be basically established; and by 2020, a complete graphene industrial system will be in place, enabling standardization, serialization, and cost reduction of graphene materials.

On May 5 this year, the highly anticipated national standard titled “Terminology, Definitions, and Codes for Graphene Materials” (Draft for Comments) was officially released on the website of the China National Standardization Administration Committee and is now open to public comments. This marks significant progress in the development of China’s first national standard for graphene.

Industry insiders expect that the China International Graphene Resources Industry Alliance will be officially established this September, and at the same time, the Shanghai Graphene Industry Technology Functional Platform will begin formal operations.

Why is industrialization frequently encountering cold reception?

It can be said that, since the discovery of graphene and the recognition of its superior material properties, its popularity within the industry has been truly “unparalleled.”

In the years that followed, research and development of graphene preparation technologies continued to heat up, attracting intense interest and investment from various capital sources. Listed companies such as HuaLi Family, Del Future, Northeast Securities, China Baoan, and Zhongtai Chemical have all entered the graphene sector through acquisitions, equity investments, and other means.

However, in stark contrast to the fervor in upstream R&D and the rush of capital investment, its downstream large-scale applications have repeatedly hit a cold reception.

“Currently, the graphene industry is experiencing an uneven situation: first, there’s enthusiasm from academia, the capital community, and the media, but tepid interest from the industrial sector; second, there’s eagerness from governments to attract investment, yet a lack of supportive policies for actual implementation; and third, there’s widespread enthusiasm among Chinese consumers, while developed countries tend to take a more long-term, cautious approach,” said Xiao Jinsong, Director of the Raw Materials Industry Research Institute at the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), during the China-Canada Graphene Industry and Applications Symposium.

Xiao Jinsong believes that the capital market has currently hailed graphene as the “material of god,” yet domestic research lacks valuable, professional R&D achievements. Most listed companies are operating at a loss, and the graphene market is overheated and hyped up—industry players adopt an attitude of “not releasing the hawk until the rabbit is in sight.”

According to Xiao Jinsong, since 2011, China has consistently ranked first in the world in both the total number of papers published by its researchers and the number of patent applications filed. As of now, China has filed over 2,200 patent applications in the graphene field. According to incomplete statistics, more than 80 top-tier domestic universities and research institutions across the country are currently engaged in graphene research.

He analyzed that the current industrialization of graphene faces three major challenges: technology, market, and cost. For instance, critical technologies have yet to achieve substantial breakthroughs; downstream application research is lagging behind; there’s a lack of guidance on industrial application technologies; and initial R&D investments are substantial in both scale and duration.

In response, Xiao Jinsong suggested that during the 13th Five-Year Plan period, the state should establish a special program and a dedicated fund for graphene development, designating graphene as a strategic mineral resource. It is also important to streamline the application stage and build an integrated upstream-to-downstream industrial chain. Furthermore, efforts should be accelerated to formulate appropriate technological roadmaps, material standards, and application standards—establishing a comprehensive set of norms and specifications. Additionally, we should foster and strengthen leading high-tech enterprise groups that integrate mining, beneficiation, and metallurgy, and create graphene industry bases. Finally, social capital should be encouraged and guided to enter the graphene industry sector.

Given the real-world situation of “uneven temperature distribution” and frequent cooling-off, the industry’s enthusiasm for the commercialization of graphene is gradually waning. Indeed, many outsiders and investors now believe that it’s premature to achieve graphene’s industrialization.

On this point, Xiao Jinsong stated: “The graphene industry is currently in the stage of concept introduction and early-stage industrial breakthrough.” In his view, judging from the 20-year maturity cycle of the silicon materials industry, it will take at least another 5 to 10 years for the graphene industry to reach full maturity. The key now lies in figuring out how to break the current impasse.

“Recently, we conducted a survey of the graphene industry chain. The survey revealed that some Chinese graphene enterprises are still constrained by factors such as immature preparation technologies, high costs, stringent environmental regulations, and instability, which have slowed down the pace of commercialization and widespread adoption of graphene,” said Liu Ronghua, Deputy Secretary-General of the Graphite Special Committee of the China Non-Metallic Mineral Industry Association, at the China-Canada Graphene Industry and Application Seminar. Liu Ronghua is also the founder of “Shimobang,” China’s first online trading platform for graphene. In April of this year, he led a team to conduct a comprehensive survey of China’s graphene industry chain.

An immeasurable market prospect

“Currently, graphene development has entered the eve of industrialization, yet there’s a significant gap between this reality and public perception,” said Liu Ronghua. “The market has very strong expectations regarding graphene industry policies, and graphene is poised to be included in the ‘13th Five-Year Plan’ major new materials initiative.”

It is understood that graphene currently exists primarily in two forms: graphene powder and graphene films. Graphene powder is prepared from natural graphite using mainly two methods: mechanical exfoliation and the oxidation-reduction method. It finds applications in the fields of new materials and energy. Graphene films, on the other hand, are produced from methane through processes such as chemical vapor deposition and epitaxial growth. They are widely used in fields including electronics, environmental protection, and medicine.

After conducting a thorough study, Liu Ronghua predicts that in the second half of this year, the graphene industry will see the emergence of “powder” and “films,” with applications spanning such sectors as anti-corrosion coatings, thermally conductive plastics, graphene-enhanced EPS, heat sinks for consumer electronics, supercapacitors, and lithium-ion batteries. “Some graphene companies already surpassed 10 million yuan in revenue in 2015, and this year they are poised to exceed 100 million yuan in revenue. Among these, graphene holds the greatest potential for early industrialization in the fields of composite materials, cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries, and electronic touch screens.”

According to Liu Ronghua’s research on domestic graphene enterprises, several relatively well-defined applications of graphene in composite materials currently include anti-corrosion coatings, modified plastics, and graphene-enhanced EPS.

In the field of anti-corrosion coatings, according to market forecasts, China’s output of conventional anti-corrosion coatings and heavy-duty anti-corrosion coatings will reach approximately 3 million tons and 1.5 million tons respectively by 2015, bringing the total output of anti-corrosion coatings to around 4.5 million tons. By 2017, this figure could rise to as much as 6 million tons. Assuming a graphene usage rate of one-thousandth and a price of 1 million yuan per ton, the potential market size by 2017 would be 6 billion yuan.

Graphene-modified plastics have a wide range of applications and a huge market potential. Taking PVC materials as an example, China’s annual output of PVC plastics is approximately 18 million tons. If we assume that 5% graphene is added to 1% of the PVC material, the demand for graphene in the PVC plastics sector alone would approach tens of thousands of tons. In addition to plastic materials, other polymer materials such as rubber also exhibit a tremendous demand for graphene.