EU's Graphene Flagship Initiative: A Public-Private Partnership of Unprecedented Scale

Graphene has been the subject of an explosion of technical research in recent years as a result of its unique combination of superior properties. It has become the starting point for disruptive technologies in a wide range of fields including high performance computing, transparent conductors, printed electronics, displays, solar photovoltaics, and sensors. Pathways to large area, high throughput production of graphene materials have been established, and key cases emerging from research labs around the globe have demonstrated the advantages of graphene for the applications noted above. The European Commission recently announced graphene as one of the EU's first 10-year, 1 Billion euro Future $amp; Emerging Technology (FET) flagships. The goal of the Graphene Flagship is to accelerate the path of graphene and related layered materials from academic laboratory research to scaled commercialization. The resulting societal benefit and subsequent revolutionizing of multiple industry sectors should create substantial economic growth and new jobs in the EU. The recent announcement is noteworthy as it is launching a coordinated public-private partnership research initiative of unprecedented scale. Also included: DNA and Quantum Dots: All That Glitters is Not Gold, The State of Nanoimprinted Polymer Organic Solar Cell Technology, and Flexible Organic Photovoltaic Cells with In-situ Non-thermal Photoreduction of Spin Coated Graphene Oxide Electrodes