Round robin validation
| Reference number | |
| Coordinator | Stiftelsen Chalmers Industriteknik |
| Funding from Vinnova | SEK 400 000 |
| Project duration | June 2018 - December 2018 |
| Status | Completed |
Purpose and goal
Characterization and standardization of graphene are seen as some of the main challenges for applications of graphene. There are also many types of graphene and all suppliers don’t specify the material equally. It is therefore difficult to develop new products. This project has accelerated the building of an open database of validated graphene material and highlighted the importance of characterization. This will facilitate the choosing of relevant graphene for development of new products. The knowledge of graphene characterization within the Swedish network has increased.
Expected results and effects
An advantage with BET and XPS is that they only require limited sample preparation. BET is a simple method to determine the surface area, whereas XPS is a very good technique for determining the surface chemistry. SEM can give good information on the size of the flakes and their morphology, but requires more sample preparation and careful analysis. The suppliers did not supply complete datasheets of the bought materials. Only some aspects could therefore be compared, but this also highlights the importance of validation. A report and database will be presented on the SIO Grafen homepage.
Planned approach and implementation
Six different graphene materials (including one rGO and one GO) from three different suppliers were chosen by project managers from previous SIO Grafen projects, which ensured the relevance of the chosen material. KTH, RISE and RISE IVF characterised the material using four different techniques (BET, SEM, TGA and XPS). Two of these methods (BET and SEM) were used in parallel by two organisations. The program office redistributed the graphene in anonymous containers, eliminating any potential unintentional bias.