Paragraf is producing graphene ‘wafers’ and graphene-based electronic devices, which could be used in transistors, where graphene-based chips could deliver speeds more than ten times faster than silicon chips; and in chemical and electrical sensors, where graphene could increase sensitivity by a factor of more than 30. The company’s first device will reportedly be available in the next few months.
Professor Sir Colin Humphreys from the Centre for Gallium Nitride in Cambridge’s Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, along with his former postdoctoral researchers Dr. Simon Thomas and Dr. Ivor Guiney, developed a new way to make large-area graphene in 2015.
Using their method, the researchers were able to form high-quality graphene wafers up to eight inches in diameter. The three researchers spun out Paragraf in early 2018. Thomas is currently the company’s CEO and Guiney is its Chief Technology Officer, while Humphreys, who has recently moved to Queen Mary University of London, serves as Chair.
“Paragraf has the potential to transform a wide range of industries, including electronics, energy and healthcare,” said Humphreys. “It will enable the basic science results achieved in laboratories worldwide using small graphene flakes to be commercially exploited in graphene-based devices and to realize the potential and benefits to society of graphene, the wonder material.”