Economic Reference News: New breakthroughs achieved in graphene research, with broad prospects for industrial application

On March 12th, the "Economic Reference News" focused on the innovative practices of ZTE Group in the field of graphene, presenting a special report to deeply analyze how this new material technology can empower green, low-carbon and high-quality development. The article explored various dimensions such as key technological breakthroughs, collaborative innovation in the industrial chain, and the implementation of scenario-based applications. It elaborated on ZTE's latest exploration of accelerating technological transformation and scenario-based application through the ecological collaboration of "production - education - research - application", in order to support the construction of the new power system and enhance the global competitiveness of China's new material industry chain.

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New breakthroughs in graphene research open up broad prospects for industrial application.

2025-03-12

Reporter: Yuan Zhenyu, Wei Yijun Source: Economic Reference News

China is one of the countries with the most active research and application development in graphene. The related industries are entering a period of rapid growth. The "2025-2030 Research Analysis and Market Forecast Report on China's Graphene Industry" released by the China Business Research Institute shows that the market size of graphene in China will reach approximately 41.1 billion yuan in 2024.

Recently, reporters learned that the research and application of graphene new materials in the field of power energy have achieved new breakthroughs. The low-temperature high-conductivity composite material has the foundation for industrial application. Experts and industry insiders believe that in the future, further investment in technological research and development and talent reserves is needed, and an industrial ecosystem featuring coordinated innovation throughout the entire chain should be actively built.

Expanding the new frontier for industrial development

In the Internet of Things Sensor Industrial Park located in Yueqing, Wenjiang, Zhejiang Province, the Graphene New Materials Innovation Center is generating new development momentum. Here, efforts are being made to cultivate industrialization capabilities for super copper powder at normal temperatures, super copper wires, super copper strip materials, as well as the preparation of composite wires and other large-scale and industrialized production capabilities, in order to accelerate the application of new materials.

Under the backdrop of the new round of industrial upgrading and technological revolution, the new materials industry is bound to become the cornerstone and pioneer of the future development of high-tech industries, exerting a profound influence on the development of various fields such as the global economy, technology, and environment. In the opinion of Li Yichun, the chairman of the China Graphene Industry Innovation and Technology Strategic Alliance, graphene, as a new type of functional material, has broad application prospects.

Graphene is a two-dimensional atomic crystal material composed of a single layer of carbon atoms, forming a honeycomb structure. Its stable structure endows it with unique physical and chemical properties, especially extremely high carrier mobility and extremely high thermal conductivity. As a result, this new material of graphene has gained popularity in applications that leverage its thermal and electrical properties.

Li Yichun introduced that based on the outstanding performance characteristics of graphene, its application fields can be roughly divided into electronic information, energy storage and conversion, composite materials, biomedicine, environmental engineering, etc. In these fields, some graphene products or prototypes have already been verified in laboratories or passed small-scale tests, such as graphene transistors, touch screens, solar cells, super capacitors, conductive inks, sensors, etc.

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Currently, the global annual output of graphene exceeds 23,000 tons, and more than 250 companies worldwide have commercialized graphene materials. This indicates that the graphene market is continuously expanding. According to incomplete statistics, 80 countries and regions are actively planning and promoting the development of the graphene industry. Several authoritative market analysis institutions predict that from 2023 to 2028, the annual compound growth rate of the entire graphene industry will reach 30% to 45%.

"China attaches great importance to the research and industrialization development of graphene. At the national and local levels, it provides continuous support in terms of funds and policies. The research and industrialization process is basically in sync with the international standards." said Academician Liu Zhongfan of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. China's number of published papers and patent applications on graphene accounts for about three-quarters of the global total, and there are over 50,000 related enterprises.

Liu Zhongfan believes that from the domestic perspective, China has already achieved a world-leading position in the basic research and patent application of graphene. It has a strong talent reserve and technological support, as well as a huge market demand and policy support. Therefore, it has the advantages and conditions to realize the industrialization of graphene.

New progress has been made in the research and development of high-conductivity materials at room temperature.

After eight years of research and development, the ZTE Group has achieved several significant results in the field of high-conductivity graphene copper composite materials at room temperature. "The high-conductivity graphene composite material developed by our company achieved a high-performance result of 109.6% IACS (International Annealed Copper Standard) in the third-party conductivity test conducted in August 2024, successfully meeting the technical requirements for the material's conductivity," said Nan Cunhui, Chairman of the ZTE Group and President of the Zhejiang Federation of Industry and Commerce.

It is introduced that by using the graphene chemical vapor deposition (CVD) growth technology, when preparing high-conductivity graphene-copper composite materials, the bonding force between graphene and copper can be adjusted by controlling the experimental parameters in the preparation process of each copper-graphene powder. The thickness of the film graphene on the copper powder can be controlled within 1 to 10 layers, and the coverage rate of the film graphene on the surface of the copper powder can be adjusted from 30% to 95%. The conductivity can reach 108% IACS.

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Among them, the graphene-copper composite material prepared by the CVD copper powder and graphene growth method has been successfully applied to the contact field and has taken the lead in achieving industrialization of contacts, thus completing the entire industrial chain from raw materials to composite materials and then to contact products. "Wang Guorong, the vice president of ZTE Group, said, currently the production lines in the fields of new energy and power grid have also been connected, and the products are being trial-produced in charging guns, transformers, wires and cables and other products."

In the research and development of high-conductivity graphene-copper composite materials, the core task is the stable preparation of graphene-copper composite materials with superior performance, and the key indicator is how to enhance the conductivity of the material.

"After initially achieving the production of high-conductivity graphene-copper composite materials, we formed three teams and used three methods to develop high-conductivity graphene composite materials. It was not until early 2021 that we gradually identified the key influencing factors for improving conductivity and gradually enhanced the conductivity." Nan Cunhui said.

Ding Yi, the director of the Electrical Conductor Materials Research Section at the Electrical New Materials Institute of China Electric Power Research Institute, said that according to calculations, a 1% increase in conductivity (to 1 IACS) in electrical conductors can result in an annual energy savings of 1,000 to 2,500 kilowatt-hours per kilometer of transmission line. If high-conductivity graphene copper with 108% IACS, comparable to silver, is adopted, based on the total length of 63 million kilometers of 10-kilovolt and 220-kilovolt and above transmission lines across the country, it can save 50 billion to 12.6 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, equivalent to building another Three Gorges Dam.

Meanwhile, the integration of graphene new materials with emerging business models has given rise to more application scenarios. Relying on the independently developed ultra-high conductivity graphene-copper composite material, ZTE Innovation has innovatively created high-nickel-silicon-carbon, high-nickel-lithium and lithium-sulfur cell and module products, as well as the "Yixiang" unmanned aerial vehicle suitable for photovoltaic and wind power stations, power grid inspection and maintenance scenarios. The products not only meet the requirements for long-range and extreme environment inspections, but also achieve the longest 120-minute flight duration in the industrial unmanned aerial vehicle market.

Accelerate the promotion of collaborative innovation within the industrial chain

Although significant progress has been made in the research and application at present, experts and industry insiders believe that technologies such as batch production, low-cost stripping and transfer, and unified product standards still pose varying degrees of constraints on the industrialization speed of graphene new materials.

“In the future, we will strengthen the foundation of innovation and research and development from aspects such as platform construction and talent cultivation,” said Nan Cunhui. “On one hand, we will further establish and leverage the advantages of platforms for the research and development of composite technologies and equipment, batch production, performance testing, and product application testing in terms of technology application research and technology transfer and transformation, to accelerate the transformation of key technical achievements. At the same time, we will attach importance to talent development and cultivation, and adhere to the industrialization thinking and engineering thinking in cultivating scientific and technological talents.”

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Graphene composite materials involve multiple links. Experts such as Liu Zhongfan believe that cooperation and synergy among raw material suppliers, graphene production enterprises, and application enterprises should be strengthened. By establishing industrial alliances and collaborating on research projects, seamless integration of the industrial chain can be achieved, thereby enhancing industrial efficiency and competitiveness.

Take the practice of ZhenTai Group as an example. In the development of graphene composite material contact products, Shanghai Xinzhi Energy Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Xinzhi Energy") was the main entity, while Wenzhou Hongfeng Electrical Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Hongfeng Electrical"), Fuda Alloy Materials Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Fuda Alloy") and Zhejiang ZhenTai Electrical Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "ZhenTai Electrical") collaborated. These four companies, as companies at the upstream and downstream of the product's industrial chain, jointly developed new materials and new products.

Wang Guorong explained that New Pool Energy, as a company specializing in the development of new materials, provides new materials to Hongfeng Electrical and Fuda Alloy. The latter processes the new materials into electrical contact products, and then sends them to ZTE Electrical for assembly of the contacts into corresponding types of switches to conduct product performance verification. The verification results are fed back to New Pool Energy, which analyzes and summarizes the results, and then formulates a new research and development plan to carry out the next round of product verification until the performance meets the product requirements. Through such a cooperative approach, after long-term joint development and research efforts, the new product was successfully implemented and put into large-scale application.

In terms of improving the smooth operation of the industry-university-research cooperation mechanism, Li Yichun believes that through market value guidance, a new material innovation system of "industry - education - research - application" should be further established. Each of the enterprises, universities and research institutions should fully leverage their respective advantages in basic research, talents and technology. They should collaborate to overcome key technologies such as the industrialization preparation and application of high conductivity graphene copper composite materials, and jointly achieve the industrialization and application promotion of graphene new materials.