ASSIGNMENT

ENTREPRENEURSHIP
MANAGEMENT

GRAPHENE- Background, Products and innovation for

apparel industry

BY
SNIGDHA PATEL(sniggy:p)

INTRODUCTION
Graphene is a crystalline allotrope of carbon. In graphene, carbon atoms are
densely packed in a regular sp2-bonded in hexagonal pattern. Graphene can be
described as a one-atom thick layer of graphite. It is the basic structural element of
other allotropes, including graphite, charcoal, carbon nanotubes and fullerenes.
Graphene is a two dimensional material consisting of a single layer of carbon atoms
arranged in a honeycomb or chicken wire structure. It is the thinnest material known and
yet is also one of the strongest. It conducts electricity as efficiently as copper and
outperforms all other materials as a conductor of heat. Graphene is almost completely
transparent, yet so dense that even the smallest atom helium cannot pass through it.
In laymans term Graphene is the strongest, thinnest material known to
exist. A form of carbon, it can conduct electricity and heat better than anything
else. It is not only the hardest material in the world, but also one of the most pliable..
High-quality graphene is strong, light, nearly transparent and an excellent
conductor of heat and electricity. Its interactions with other materials and with light and
its inherently two-dimensional nature produce unique properties, such as the bipolar
transistor effect, ballistic transport of charges and large quantum oscillations.

The American Chemical Society said in 2012 that graphene was discovered to be 200
times stronger than steel and so thin that a single ounce of it could cover 28 football
fields. Chinese scientists have created a graphene aero gel, an ultra light material
derived from a gel, which is one-seventh the weight of air. A cubic inch of the material
could balance on one blade of grass.
The properties of graphene are still being characterized, but the short list is enumerated
here:

Graphene has a tensile strength 200 times that of steel. This means
graphene will withstand 200 times more stress than steel before tearing. It is
also 300 times harder than steel.
Graphene is an excellent conductor and exhibits less resistance to a passing
current than copper. Electrons seem to lose their mass as they pass through
the sheet.
Graphene is a perfect thermal conductor.
It is extremely transparent, absorbing only 2.3 percent of the light that strikes
it.
It is extremely impermeable. Only the smallest of molecules can get through a
sheet of graphene.

APPLICATIONS (Non Apparel)

Graphene is widely heralded as the replacement for silicon, the ubiquitous material
for semiconductors today. It has one hundred times the electron mobility than silicon,
and yet it is more durable than steel, with higher heat conductibility.
Researchers at IBM, Nokia and SanDisk have been experimenting with the material to
create sensors, transistors and memory storage.
In the beginning of 2013, HEAD announced their new range of graphene tennis rackets
(YouTek Graphene Speed series). These rackets supposedly use graphene to make
the shaft stronger and lighter, the graphene helps distribute the weight better and
creates a stronger and better controlled racket. HEAD offers five different rackets,
ranging from $170 to $286.
MWV Packaging launched the first graphene-ink based product. The product is the
Siren Technology security smart packaging. The new security tags are more aesthetic
and have an appealing design. The Siren labels works inside retail stores like
conventional electronic article surveillance systems (EAS tags, used to identify items as
they pass through a gate) and also outside the store, while just costing a few cents per
label.

Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley made graphene speakers last year
that delivered sound at quality equal to or better than a pair of commercial Sennheiser
earphones. And they were much smaller.
Another fascinating aspect of graphene is its ability to be submerged in liquids without
oxidizing, unlike other conductive materials.
As a result, Vijayaraghavan said, graphene research is leading to experiments where
electronics can integrate with biological systems. In other words, you could have a
graphene gadget implanted in you that could read your nervous system or talk to your
cells.
Carmakers are exploring building electronic cars with bodies made of graphene that are
not only protective, but act as solar panels that charge the car's battery. Aircraft makers
also hope to build planes out of graphene.
International team of researchers based at MIT has performed tests that could lead to
the creation of quantum computers, which would be a big market of computing in the
future.

LITERATURE REVIEW AND

APPLICATIONS (Apparel)
T-shirts containing computers, interactive mirrors and windows, and more efficient solar
panels: these are all things that could be coming soon thanks to a newly developed
graphene-based material that is the most transparent, lightweight and flexible material
ever made for conducting electricity.
A team of scientists at the Centre for Graphene Science at the University of Exeter
invented the new material that they're calling GraphExeter to replace indium tin oxide
(ITO) in electronics. ITO is great at conducting electricity but indium is not only
expensive, but becoming increasingly rare. It's predicted that indium supplies will run
out by 2017, meaning it's time we found another option. The team at Exeter not only
found a good replacement, they found a better one.

Graphene has become the miracle material of late. Researchers have found that it
could be used in things like self-cooling electronics and even better water filters.
Graphene on its own is very thin (just one atom thick!), flexible and strong, but its sheet
resistance has limited its conductivity. Graphene is ideal material for wearable
electronics, like clothing containing computers, phones and MP3 players.
- http://www.treehugger.com/gadgets
GraphExeter could also have some great clean tech applications, too. Because it is
transparent over a wide spectrum of light, it could boost solar panel efficiency by 30
percent.
The team at Exeter is now developing a spray-on version of the material that could be
applied directly to mirrors, windows, fabric, and, yes, solar panels.

Researchers have adapted graphene into something they call GraphExeter (I see what
they did there) which they say is the most transparent, lightweight and flexible material
ever invented for conducting electricity. This means it could be used to make clothing
containing computers and other electronic equipment, along with making objects like
windows and mirrors smart. A spray-on version is also being created which could be
applied straight onto the aforementioned objects.
GraphExeter could revolutionize the electronics industry. It outperforms any other
carbon-based transparent conductor used in electronics and could be used for a range
of applications, from solar panels to smart t-shirts. - http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com

Thus we can see from the above researches that graphene has a huge scope of
implementation in the apparel industry due to its properties it could become the
magic fiber for the apparel industry.

AREAS OF IMPROVEMENT AND

PROTOTYPING IN APPAREL INDUSTRY

Despite the fascinating properties of graphene and the use of it in smart clothing, there
are several challenges and areas of improvement currently for the implementation of
graphene in the apparel sectors these are:

Can Graphene be made cheap enough at the required quality for mass
production and practical application in apparel
Will it be possible to develop techniques to handle such thin delicate materials?
This is the most crucial problem currently being faced in producing graphene
made products.
Graphene has been shown to have many applications in electrical energy
storage and conversion, but can this work be scaled up to provide better solar
cells and batteries and could these be utilized in clothing.
Graphene is extremely strong, but can it help in strengthening materials used for
applications like bulletproof jackets and aircrafts
Every atom in single layer Graphene is at the surface and this makes for high
sensitivity to the environment. Can this sensitivity be engineered to produce low
cost clothes that respond to the environment?
How to use the transparent property of the graphene be utilized to produce
invisible/ camouflage clothing
The graphene is a new product and much work is yet to be done upon it in other
sectors before putting it in use for the apparel industry.

After seen the areas of improvement we can clearly see that graphene could be used in
development in new types of clothes as well as improving the current clothing.

1st Prototype (new idea): Graphene Enabled Invisibility Cloak

Using the high transparent property of graphene a clothing material can be

developed to camouflage things. This can be achieved since graphene is
extremely transparent, absorbing only 2.3 percent of the light that strikes it.

2nd Prototype (improved product): Bulletproof vest

Graphene, the one atom thick layer of graphite, has proven to be an exciting substance
in the development of advanced materials.

Graphene sheets are formed from hexagonal carbon atoms linked by covalent bonds.
Each sheet is considered as a single molecule since it is one atom thick. Graphene
possesses high strength because of the strength of covalent bonds between each atom.
This makes graphene application in materials for bulletproof vests. This can be
developed by combining carbon nanotubes with graphene. If developed the new
graphene-based material will be tougher than substances such as spider silk and Kevlar
that are widely employed in bulletproof vests, since graphene is very strong as stated
earlier
Ballistic/bulletproof vests employ layers of strong fibers to absorb the energy of the
bullet, and deform it, to disperse its energy throughout the vests. They minimize the
force of the bullet in one area, and prevent the bullet from penetrating the textile matrix
and body.
Sometimes, bullets may penetrate some fiber layers of the vest. However, the energy
from the bullet is absorbed by larger fiber areas as the bullet starts to deform. To this
date, Kevlar and spider silk are still regarded as the toughest fibers employed in ballistic
vests.
Strength and toughness are two important properties of materials. The requirement of
high strength and toughness is based on the applications. Ballistic applications such as
bullet-proof vests require more toughness than strength, as the vest absorbs the energy
of the bullet.
This idea presents a novel graphene composite material that is extremely tougher than
any other fibers. The mixture of graphene oxide particles to carbon nanotubes in
solution-can creates an exceptionally strong fibrous material which can find applications
not only in battlefield protection, but also in advanced materials construction.

As graphene are capable of conducting electricity, it can this composite material can
also be used in actuating materials and electrical energy storage in the future.

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphene
http://www.graphene-info.com/grafoid-and-altamat-develop-graphene-based-3dprinting-powders-and-filaments
http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/turn-your-clothes-into-wearablecomputers-with-graphene
http://www.gizmag.com/graphene-superpermeable-to-water/21240/
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/tech-news/Samsung-makes-graphenebreakthrough-for-flexible-wearable-computing/articleshow/33405317.cms
http://www.graphene-info.com/graphene-products
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=1012&sid=25415597#O8r32owJa3tjHU7b.99

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-21014297
http://www.treehugger.com/gadgets/electronic-clothing-more-efficient-solarpanels-possible-graphene.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulletproof_vest