Analysis of the Development Status and Production Enterprises of China's Graphene Industry
Graphene is a new material with a single-layer sheet-like structure composed of carbon atoms. It is a two-dimensional material with only one carbon atom thickness, consisting of a hexagonal honeycomb lattice formed by sp2 hybridized orbitals of carbon atoms. According to the number of layers, it can be divided into single-layer graphene, double-layer graphene, and multi-layer graphene. According to their functionalized forms, common ones include oxidized graphene, hydrogenated graphene, fluorinated graphene, and so on. According to the external form, there are sheets, films, quantum dots, nanoribbons, or three-dimensional shapes, etc.
Graphene has excellent optical, electrical, and mechanical properties, and has important application prospects in materials science, micro nano processing, energy, biomedical, and drug delivery. It is considered a revolutionary material for the future. Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, physicists at the University of Manchester, UK, successfully separated graphene from graphite by micromechanical stripping method, and therefore jointly won the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics. The common methods for producing graphene powders are mechanical exfoliation, oxidation-reduction, and SiC epitaxial growth, while the thin film production method is chemical vapor deposition (CVD).
According to the "2022-2027 China Graphene Industry Market In Depth Research and Investment Strategy Research Report" released by China Research Institute Puhua Industry Research Institute
Actually, graphene already exists in nature, but it is difficult to peel off a single-layer structure. Graphene is stacked layer by layer to form graphite, with a thickness of 1 millimeter containing approximately 3 million layers of graphene. A pencil lightly tracing on paper may leave traces of several layers or even just one layer of graphene.
At present, the application of graphene materials in China mainly focuses on two areas: one is to use graphene as an additive in existing products to improve and enhance product performance, such as LED lights with graphene heat dissipation coatings, graphene warm walls, graphene flooring, graphene anti-corrosion coatings, clothing made of graphene internal heating fibers, graphene anti-static tires, heating plates, graphene power batteries and other products; Another type is to use graphene film for heating films, smart bracelets, touch screens, far-infrared therapy products, etc.
The current development status of China's graphene industry
At present, the full industrial chain layout of graphene in China has taken shape, covering the entire process from preparation and application research to graphene product production and downstream applications. A preliminary industrial development pattern has been formed, with Beijing as the core, the eastern coastal industrial belt and the Inner Mongolia Heilongjiang industrial belt as agglomeration areas, and multiple locations distributed in a point like manner.
There are over 300 companies in the field of material preparation, mainly producing graphene powder and thin films, and achieving mass production; There are over 600 companies related to the application field, covering multiple fields such as anti-corrosion coatings, thermal management materials, energy storage, electronic displays, and big health. In addition, there are also some technical service, sales, investment, testing and other enterprises that have further improved the entire graphene industry chain system.
At present, commercially available graphene materials mainly include two categories: graphene powder and graphene thin film. At present, the annual production capacity of graphene in China is maintained at around 3000 tons, while the demand is only over 100 tons. It has achieved commercial applications in automotive, textile, military and other fields. The application market of graphene still has room for further development, and the prospects of graphene are very broad.
Analysis of Major Production Regions and Enterprises of Graphene in China
From a production perspective, China's abundant graphite resources provide a solid resource foundation for the development of the graphene industry. China's basic reserves of graphite resources account for about 24% of the world's total reserves, and its graphite production ranks among the top in the world. Currently, China has identified 55 million tons of crystalline graphite reserves, ranking among the top in the world. Among them, 47% of domestic graphite reserves are distributed in Heilongjiang, and 19% are distributed in Inner Mongolia.
Graphene is showing a vigorous development trend nationwide. At present, China has basically formed a graphene industry pattern with the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, Beijing Tianjin Hebei Shandong region as aggregation areas and distributed development in multiple regions. The industrialization of graphene in China is showing strong momentum, and several industrial innovation centers with graphene characteristics have emerged. Especially in the Yangtze River Delta region, Changzhou, known as the "Eastern Carbon Valley," has attracted much attention due to its high concentration of graphene related industries. Ningbo is supported by the Ningbo Institute of Materials Science and Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, as well as the solid research capabilities of universities and research institutes in Shanghai. The three regions have developed in synergy and complemented each other's advantages. Graphene production and preparation technology continues to make breakthroughs, and the pace of application industrialization is rapid.
The number of registered enterprises in China's graphene industry has shown an increasing trend from 2019 to 2021, with 13665 registered enterprises in 2021, an increase of 5830 compared to the previous year. As of September 23, 2022, the number of newly registered enterprises was 11668.
Graphene is one of the materials with the highest known strength, as well as excellent toughness and the ability to bend. Its theoretical Young's modulus is 1.0 TPa, and its inherent tensile strength is 130 GPa. The reduced graphene modified by hydrogen plasma also has excellent strength, with an average modulus of up to 0.25 TPa. Graphite paper composed of graphene flakes has many pores, making it brittle. However, when oxidized to obtain functional graphene, it becomes exceptionally strong and tough when made into graphite paper.
On October 31, 2021, the "2021 China Fujian (Yong'an) Graphene Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition and Project Achievement Matchmaking Conference" concluded. At the meeting, the CCID Research Institute of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released the "China Graphene Industry Development Competitiveness Index (2021)".
With the gradual breakthroughs in mass production and large-scale challenges, the industrial application of graphene is accelerating. Based on existing research results, the first areas to achieve commercial application may be mobile devices, aerospace, and new energy batteries.
The research and application development of graphene continues to heat up, and materials related to graphene are widely used in battery electrode materials, semiconductor devices, transparent display screens, sensors, capacitors, transistors, and other fields. Given the excellent performance and potential application value of graphene materials, a series of important advances have been made in various disciplines such as chemistry, materials science, physics, biology, environment, and energy. Researchers are committed to trying different methods in different fields to prepare high-quality, large-area graphene materials. And through continuous optimization and improvement of the graphene preparation process, the cost of graphene preparation is reduced to enable its excellent material properties to be widely applied and gradually move towards industrialization.
