Xefro, the UK-based company that reported developing a graphene-based heating system in 2015, was wound-up (liquidated) by the High Court on 17 October 2017. It was determined that Xefro sold its products on the basis of misrepresentations and an investigation by the Insolvency Service found the company misled the public and failed to install systems safely.

The heating system itself was deemed not fit for sale and was described as a “defective and dangerous” product. In some cases the company failed to deliver systems at all despite receiving advance payments. In addition, the company falsely stated that claims of major financial savings had been verified by independent tests but in fact, the cost of operating the Xefro system was more than double and produced almost twice the amount of CO2 emissions of a conventional heating system over a 24 hour period.

On a personal note, the Graphene-Info team sees this as an unfortunate and cynical abuse of the graphene "hype", which should not, however, reflect on the material's actual potential. We believe that graphene will indeed enable many wonderful things in the future, but until then it is, sadly, likely that some will try to take advantage of the interest around it.

Source: About Manchester