Graphene 2017, Europe’s largest graphene event, became even larger this year with a record high attendance compared to any previous year. The conference, hosted in lovely Barcelona, housed nearly 100 Keynotes and Invited Speakers, more than 400 posters, more than 150 oral contributions, 55 exhibitors and a 2-day Industrial Forum.

Now in phase II, the Graphene Flagship has decidedly moved towards implementing graphene and other 2D materials in real world products and applications, which has reflected in this conference as well. Applications such as energy, opto-electronics, nanophotonics, biosensors, and medical applications were among the major discussion topics. It is becoming evident that functionalization of graphene with chemical and biological agents and its integration with other 2D materials in heterostructures is the next frontier in the applications of graphene and related materials. Integration in composites is also an important direction, especially for applications demanding large-scale production for electrical, thermal and mechanical exploitation.

Photo: Amaia Zurutuza & Miren Cajaraville at our booth.

Boosting material quality and consistency remain key demands of the graphene market. Standardization and characterization thus remain a vibrant area of research, as evidenced by many sessions dedicated to those issues, as does cutting-edge research on mechanical properties, spintronics & valleytronics, and theory & simulation. Interestingly, the industrial forum sessions were dedicated to composites, printing, thin films and devices, and commercialization, most of which areas Graphenea excels in.

Graphenea exhibited a booth that highlighted our product line and main interests. Our Scientific Director Amaia Zurutuza gave an Invited Talk about “Challenges in Graphene Integration”. Speaking at the Industrial Forum, Amaia discussed open challenges in wafer scale integration of CVD graphene into CMOS processes, as well as introducing bulk graphene (graphene oxide, etc) into composite applications. She noted a leap in applying graphene in electronics, flexible electronics, and OLED, where functional prototypes have started to appear.

Next year’s edition of the Graphene conference series will take place in Dresden. We’re hoping to see you there!