Graphene, once hailed as a revolutionary "wonder material" with widespread applications, is now beginning to deliver on its promises after years of overhype, with emerging commercial uses in sensors, optical microchips, energy storage, and construction.
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What if your phone battery charged in
seconds instead of hours? What if
buildings could cut their carbon
emissions in half? What if medical
sensors could detect diseases years
earlier than they do today? Graphine was
supposed to deliver on all of those and
more. Since 2004, researchers called it
a wonder material. It would
revolutionize everything. [music] 20
years later, well, most of those
promises fell flat. Graphine earned a
reputation of vaporware as those
promises vanished well into vapor. No
matter how many years have passed, the
big breakthroughs in graphine were
always just a few years away from
changing the world. But something's
different now. Graphine super capacitors
are powering AI data centers. Graphine
enhanced concrete is [music] being
poured at industrial sites. Medical
sensors using graphine are hitting the
market. [music] The trickle is starting
to turn into a flood. So what changed?
How did graphine go from miracle
material to overhyped curiosity [music]
to actually delivering results? And more
importantly, how will these
breakthroughs actually affect you? I'm
This [music] video is brought to you by
Ground News. This is graphine, but so is
this and this and this. But first, let
me back up for a moment. You might
already know about graphine, but what
exactly is it in the first place?
Graphine [music] was first isolated in
2004. It's a single layer of carbon
atoms that are arranged in a flat
hexagonal pattern, just one atom thick.
That combination gives graphine
incredible properties. Hexagons are
tough. Carbon can be tough, too. Just
think about carbon, fiber, or diamonds.
Put them together and you get something
200 times stronger than steel, [music]
all while being only one atom thick. And
here's another trick. Carbon is very
conductive in the right arrangements.
Graphite can even beat copper under
certain conditions. These hexagonal
lises work like express highways for
electrons. Usually defects in a material
act like potholes that create a traffic
jam because they slow electrons down.
Graphine structure gives electrons a
clean path and the results is superb
electrical and thermal conductivity. It
gets weirder though. Graphine stays
flexible despite being so strong.
[music] Even stranger, you can make it
from regular graphite. Just grab some
scotch tape and a pencil and you could
technically make graphine at your desk
right now. Of course, making useful
amounts of high-quality graphine is much
trickier and we'll get to that later.
Now, let's look at how graphine is
Paragraph claims to be the first company
mass-producing [music] graphine based
electronic sensors. They're based in the
UK and make graphine field effect
transistors or GFETs. These are
basically just souped-up versions of the
regular FETSS that you'll find in tons
of devices. Which begs the question, if
it ain't broke, why add graphine?
Graphine makes better sensors for a few
reasons. It's cheap, but we'll get to
more of that later. It's tough and it
lasts longer than similar sensors. That
electrical conductivity that we talked
about earlier, it makes for higher
efficiency and less heat loss. Plus,
graphine has some quirks that really
shine here. You can easily tune its
optical characteristics. That means you
can tailor it for very specific jobs.
One material, lots of different sensor
types, and because it's only one atom
thick, miniaturaturization is a breeze.
[music] It's perfect for things like
endoscopy and bioensors. Now, here's
where it gets really interesting.
Graphine has a special relationship with
something called the quantum hall
effect. Now stay with me here. Going to
get a little heady here for a second.
The hall effect lets us move electrons
in fast predictable patterns as long as
they're moving in a current and a
magnetic field. Apply this to bulk
material and the electrons bunch up on
one side which creates a transverse
voltage [music]
also known as the halt voltage. Now
here's the quantum part. Take that same
material and cool it down to 1° Kelvin.
That's about -457° F. And that's where
things get really weird. The voltage
doesn't scale smoothly anymore. [music]
You get distinct jumps and flat
plateaus. The extreme cold stops atoms
from vibrating as much. And this gives
electrons time to cooperate with each
other. While it creates some neat
effects, extreme cold has its problems
as well. Keeping things at 1°ree Kelvin
is expensive and energyintensive. That's
where graphine comes in because it can
tap into this effect at room
temperature. These voltage plateaus give
graphine sensors incredible precision
when compared to other sensors. For
medical applications, this mix of
sensitivity and certainty could save
lives. Paragraph isn't limiting
themselves to medical sensors, though.
They're not even selling finished
sensors. Instead, they build the main
sensing surface. They grow graphine on a
sapphire base and add contacts with a
gate electrode. Then, customers add
whatever receptor they need. Same
canvas, different sensors. The result?
Paragraph has a potassium ion sensor for
healthcare, heavy metal sensors for
agricultural runoff, gas sensors for
hydrogen industries, and pH sensors for
everything from gene therapy to food processing.
Let's talk about optical microchips. 2D
Photonix [music] is working on them with
one of its subsidiaries, Cam Graphic,
which spun out of the University of
Cambridge. Over in Italy, they're about
to mass-produce optical microchips
enhanced with graphine. So, what is an
optical microchip? Well, it's a
specialized circuit that uses light
instead of electrical signals to process
data. These chips convert electrical
signals into optical signals and back
again. They pair well with fiber optics,
which are getting more and more popular.
You can probably guess how graphine
helps here. We already talked about a
graphine sensor that can detect light.
So, the same principles apply here.
Optical microchips are extremely fast.
Now, I can't find specific performance
numbers for 2D photonix chips, but their
German competitor, Black Semiconductor,
claims its graphine chips hit 10 pabits
per second. Now, a pedabit is a
quadrillion bits. That's 1,000 terabs.
It's absurdly fast. Cam Graphics says it
chips do all of this while using less
energy and costing less. Now, remember
graphine's thermal conductivity? Well,
it passively dissipates heat, so no
active cooling is needed. Now, think
about data centers for a second, because
cooling is a massive cost. These chips
could reduce cooling energy by up to
80%. With AI data centers exploding and
jacking up our energy costs, anything
that saves power in water matters.
There's another bonus. Graphine's
durability means these chips work in a
much wider temperature range than
standard chips. However, these optical
microchips are not on store shelves just
yet, but 2D Photonix is building a pilot
plant outside of Milan. Once it's
complete, they claim they can produce
200 millimeter wide graphine-enhanced
chips at scale. The cost would compete
with standard silicon chips, and there's
no timeline yet, and jumping to
commercialization is always the hardest
part. That said, 2D Photonix secured 25
million pounds or about 32.6 million in
funding from backers like Italy's
Sovereign Wealth Fund, Sony, and the
NATO Innovation Fund. But it's not just
about sensors. Graphine is already
boosting energy storage systems. But
before I get to that though, let me show
you something about how we get the
information on these tech advances.
Depending on where you read about solar
or energy storage innovations, they're
either revolutionary breakthroughs that
will transform energy, or just another
overhyped green tech bubble. When
stories mix cutting edge science,
billion-dollar investments, and climate
claims, how do you know if you're
getting the full picture? That's where
today's sponsor, Ground News, comes in.
Created by a former NASA engineer,
Ground News pulls from over 50,000
sources and breaks down political bias,
credibility, ownership, and even
financial incentives behind the
coverage. A great example, take any
major story about renewable energy
policy, like this one about President
Trump stripping renewable energy from
the [music] US National Renewable Energy
Laboratory name. With one click, I can
see a summary, political bias, ownership
details, and a factuality breakdown for
every outlet that's covering it. The
centerleing source keeps it
straightforward but highlights what
changed. The left-leaning headline
focuses on sadness and emotion over this
change. Meanwhile, one right-leaning
source just says the name changed with
no hint as to why. [music] Same story,
three completely different narratives.
Now, if you're watching my channel, you
probably like digging deeper into the
[music] science and technology behind
these stories. Ground News helps you
compare coverage, spot bias, and catch
what others might have missed. I
especially like the blind spot feed. It
shows stories under reportported by
[music] one side of the spectrum. It's
helped me recognize my own blind spots
and understand the nuance behind the
headlines. For a limited time, you can
get the same exact plan I use for nearly
half off. Just head to ground.news/
undecided or scan the QR code to save
40% off their Vantage plan. Thanks to
Ground News and to all of you for
supporting the channel. Now, let's get
back to how graphine is impacting the
energy storage industry.
Graphine's electrical and thermal
properties make it perfect for batteries
and capacitors. We've covered companies
like Skeleton Technologies before and
their graphine energy storage devices
are already on the market. Let's quickly
recap how they work at a high level. For
batteries, you can add graphine to a
lithium batteries anode. The enhanced
conductivity and surface area make the
anode better at moving charge around.
Capacitors are different from batteries
because batteries store energy
chemically. Batteries are optimized for
a higher energy storage instead of
extremely high peak power and ultra fast
cycling. Capacitors store energy
electrostatically, kind of like rubbing
your hair on a balloon. They use two
electrically charged plates, one
positive, one negative. And unlike
batteries, capacitors are optimized for
very fast charge and discharge, but with
lower storage capacity. Super capacitors
are a hybrid. They use the charged
plates of a capacitor, but also use
electrodes and a liquid electrolyte like
batteries. And those electrodes get
covered in a porous conductive material
like carbon, which boosts performance.
So, you can probably see where I'm going
with this. Because graphine is
conductive and thin, it's often
suggested as a carbon replacement in
super capacitors. Surface area limits
capacitance. More surface area means
better charge storage. And Skeleton
Technologies takes this further. They've
patented something they call curved
graphine. It's a specialized form with a
crumpled shape. So, think of a ruffled
potato chip. The wavy geometry increases
usable surface area compared to flat
graphine, which enables even higher
performance. They claim 1 million charge
cycles. Our earlier video covered their
super batteries, which bridge the gap
between batteries and super capacitors
using curved graphine. And like I
already mentioned, they're already on
the market. But Skeleton Technologies
isn't stopping there. In November 2025,
they opened a super battery factory in
Varhouse, Finland. This is part of the
EU's just transition fund or JTF as an
investment program for climate neutral
economies. And Skeleton and the EU see
these batteries helping data centers
become more efficient. They're also
working on graphine GPUs. They call them
GG GPUs. They claim the curved graphine
reduces AI energy consumption by up to
45%, lowers power requirements by 44%
and boosts the computing performance in
flops by 40%. Now, these claims are big.
I mean, big enough that I'm a little
skeptical because I haven't found third
party verification. But still, anything
that reduces AI's resource consumption
Graphine as we know it today was born at
[music] the University of Manchester and
their researchers are still innovating
with it. The University of Manchester's
graphine engineering innovation center
is working on a graphine enhanced
concrete and they call it concretine. I
would have gone with graphite but I'm
not calling the shots. Using graphine to
strengthen concrete makes sense but
that's not the main goal here. The real
target is carbon emissions. Cement
production contributes more than 7% of
global CO2 emissions. So how does
graphine help with that? To answer that,
let's break down concrete. Not
literally. The main ingredient in
concrete is cement. The main ingredient
in cement is something called clinker.
Clinker is made by heating clay and
limestone to between 900 and,500° C,
which causes limestone to decompose into
calcium oxide and a ton of carbon
dioxide. That's a process called
calcination. We could skip the CO2 heavy
calcination phase by using plain
limestone, but without calcination, the
concrete is just too brittle to be
useful. This is where graphine comes in.
Add super tough graphine to uncalcinated
cement and you overcome that fragility
while cutting carbon emissions. GEIC
claims concretine costs 15 to 20% less
than regular concrete, which includes
swapping materials, avoiding carbon
taxes, and needing fewer repairs over a
lifetime. Now, some of that math sounds
a little handwavy to me, so this will
merit closer inspection once the tech
matures a little bit, and the tech is
maturing. GIC has done several sidewalk
pores. They recently teamed up with SeUK
to produce concretine at scale. In April
of 2025, they [music] poured 15 cubic
meters of graphine and micronized lime
enhanced concrete at a North Umbrean
wastewater treatment facility. This
particular mix allegedly produced 49%
less CO2 emissions per cubic meter than
traditional concrete. If everything is
as good and green as reported, we'll be
seeing a lot more of this stuff. But big
if, though.
Graphine is starting to live up to some
of the hype from 2004, but we're still
in the early phases for most
applications. So, what's the holdup?
Well, we're still working out how to
make graphine at scale. Every well
doumented manufacturing method has
drawbacks. There's an iron triangle
here. You know the type where you have
three options, but you can only pick
two. You can make a lot of graphine, you
can make it cheaply, or you can make it
at a high quality. Only two. Take
chemical vapor deposition or CVD. It's a
common production method because it
makes a lot of graphine at a reasonable
quality. CVD works by depositing a
carbonri gas onto the metal substrate at
high temperatures. The gas decomposes
and forms graphine. The problem, the
best substrates are pricey copper or
nickel. Those high temperatures need
tons of energy. Then you have to move
the graphine from the substrate to the
final device. That's risky because you
can get cracks, wrinkles, and defects
that ruin the graphine. These costs add
up fast and can cancel out graphine's
low material cost. It's not viable for
commercial applications at scale.
Mechanical exfoliation is another
example. It's basically the Scotch tape
method, but refined. use adhesives to
physically peel graphine layers off of
graphite. It produces decent quality
graphine, but we haven't figured out how
to scale it up. Then there's chemical
reduction. This uses chemicals like
hydroine or glucose to strip oxygen from
graphite. The positive is that it
produces a ton of graphine at a
reasonable price, but it messes with the
hexagonal structure. So basically, you
end up with a lower quality graphine. So
I can hear you asking, why does quality
matter? Just pump out tons of it
cheaply. Unfortunately, quality is
critical for most applications that
we've talked about today. Defects and
impurities like the potholes in the
electron superighway we discussed
earlier, they wreck the material's
strength and conductivity. The thinner
you want your graphine, the harder it
gets to control these issues. And here's
the frustrating part. The thicker your
graphine, the fewer revolutionary
qualities it keeps. Now, combine all of
that with the general lack of
consistency and the pricey production
materials of techniques we mentioned
earlier, and yeah, you can see how
mistakes can be both common and
expensive. Now, there are proprietary
techniques that work around this. They
allegedly make enough graphine at
suitable quality for commercial use.
They seem to work. Companies have
graphine products on the market, as
we've covered in our videos on Skeleton
Technologies, or the graphine proskite
solar panels. However, these production
methods are proprietary. The details are
hidden. It's understandable in a
competitive market, though. And speaking
of which, the graphine market is
expected to grow from about $1.2 billion
today to 3.58 billion in 2030. You can
see why companies want to protect their
edge. Still, it pays to be skeptical in
emerging tech fields. I remain a little
skeptical of huge claims hidden behind
the proprietary tag. Normally, I like to
place new tech on NASA's technological
readiness level. It's a handy scale that
NASA uses to assess the technologies
maturity, but that's difficult here.
We're talking about graphine, but that
covers a dizzing array of technologies.
Tech already on the market, companies
like Skeleton Technologies, that tops
probably at a scale of nine. Stuff like
Manchester's Concretine with just a few
successful demos, sits closer to maybe a
seven. That means it's flight qualified
technology ready for implementation into
existing systems. The tech that hasn't
hit those milestones is further back. So
all these years later, is graphine
finally living up to the 2004 hype? It's
complicated. Graphine hasn't been
implemented into every industry that it
was supposed to revolutionize, but it is
in commercially available tech right
now. Graphine isn't enabling the far out
stuff the initial media buzz promised,
but the fact that it's actually starting
to appear in the world around us, it's a
huge step forward. Many wonder materials
are not as lucky. But what do you think?
Is graphine still a much do about
nothing or are you excited about what's
to come? Jump in the comments and let me
know. You can also check out my extended
cut of this video over on Patreon where
I go into an interesting use of graphine
as a deep sea coding. It's really kind
of wild. And speaking of that, these
videos [music] take a team to make a
team of humans. Real research, real
interviews, real [music] feedback from
experts. There's no AI slop. If that
matters to you, Patreon support helps a
ton. And a big welcome to new supporter
plus member Casey Culie. The link's in
the description if you'd like to join.
But honestly, just watching like you are
right now is absolutely awesome. So,
thank you and check out my follow-up
podcast still to be determined. We'll
keep this conversation going. Keep your
mind open, stay curious, and I'll see
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