As a honeycomb planar film formed by sp2 hybridization of carbon atoms, graphene is known as the “king of materials†in the new century because of its very good tensile strength and light transmission, electrical and thermal conductivity. It has become the focus of global attention.
In recent years, the concept of graphene has been widely sought after in the world. The heat of graphene in China is also “high in water†and continues unabated. The seminars and demonstrations on graphene are even one after another, with seven or eight games in a month. In this upsurge of graphene, some places have gone to the other extreme, drawing graphene as a "magic medicine" to stimulate economic development, to the point of irrational fanaticism.
At the recent 2017 China International Graphite Conference held in Xi'an, the industry experts at the meeting expressed concern about the current domestic graphene overheating phenomenon, and specially discussed the relationship between graphite resources and graphene.
“Some places confuse graphene with graphite resources. As long as the graphite resources are found in the local area, the concept of graphene is used, and the graphene industrial parks relying on graphite resource planning are all the same, and the homogenization is very serious.†China Non-Metallic Mining Industry Xiang Qi, secretary-general of the Association of Graphite Professional Committee, said with anxiety, "At present, there are too many speculations in the graphene industry, and the local blindness is large. It is time to return to rationality."
Why is graphene edge hot?
As a new type of material, graphene has been around for more than 10 years.
In 2004, AndreGeim and Konstantin Novoselov from the University of Manchester successfully separated stable graphene for the first time, and their separation method was extremely simple. The natural graphite flakes were glued to the tape, the sticky one was folded, and the tape was torn. Open, so that the graphite flakes are divided into two. By repeating this process continually, the flake graphite becomes thinner and thinner, and a certain amount of graphene can be obtained. In 2010, the inventor of graphene won the Nobel Prize in Physics.
“Graphene is one of the deep processing products of natural graphite. Because graphene has better properties than graphite, graphene has the reputation of “king of new materialsâ€.†Deputy Secretary General of Graphite Professional Committee of China Non-Metallic Mining Industry Association, Graphang (Beijing) According to Liu Ronghua, CEO of Interactive Technology Co., Ltd., graphite is composed of a plurality of layers of graphene having a hexagonal network plane, and the interlayer is a weak inter-intermolecular force. Chemical or electrochemical means can be used to insert other heterogeneous atoms, molecules or molecular groups into the graphite layer to form a graphite intercalation compound. Such compounds can be removed by external force to separate the graphite into a multilayer or a single layer of graphene.
"For example, graphite is like a book. The sheet of paper that comes out inside is graphene. The structural characteristics of graphene determine that graphene is thin and hard, has good transparency, strong thermal conductivity, and high electrical conductivity. "Structural structure, fast electron transfer speed and other characteristics." Liu Ronghua said.
It is also based on the special properties of graphene. In recent years, China's graphene industry has also developed rapidly. According to relevant data, the national graphene market in 2015 was about 6.1 million US dollars, an increase of more than 336%. The preliminary statistics have exceeded 20 million US dollars in 2016.
However, due to technological advances and the speed of cost reduction is not fast enough, China's graphene industry has not yet experienced large-scale industrialization, and it is still in the stage of “commercial and industrialization of many followersâ€.
Despite this, many local experts and even some experts in the industry still have great expectations for graphene. In some places, the graphene industry is rushing to the forefront, and development is even more cost-free. Experts are invited to discuss and discuss the plans, and they are busy building industrial parks.
Liu Zhongfan, chairman of the Zhongguancun Graphene Industry Alliance and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said clearly: "Graphene is a real industry, not an Internet. It is not a simple flicker to make a lot of money. However, the future of graphene must have a broad prospect. Big cakes, as long as we strengthen our confidence and persist in doing this industry, we will be successful."
Graphite resources are not equivalent to graphene
Graphene is derived from graphite resources and is one of the high-tech products of graphite resources. It is also because of this that many places simply equate graphite resources with graphene, and believe that there are graphite resources in the local area to develop the graphene industry. Therefore, in recent years, wherever graphite resources are discovered, it has been planned to develop the graphene industry.
"There are many products that can be developed by using graphite resources. Enterprises should develop various varieties and high-value products around the market according to local conditions. But if you look at the graphene as a 'single bridge', it is likely to lose more than the graphene. Emerging industries have fallen into the next photovoltaic industry.†Xiang Qi said.
"Graphene is invented by natural graphite. There is a certain relationship between the two, but it cannot be simply confused." Liu Ronghua said that graphite resources are abundant in China, and the output accounts for about 70% of the world. In recent years, graphite resources have been discovered in some areas, and plans to build a graphene industrial park. Graphene is divided into two types, a graphene film and a graphene powder. The graphene film is prepared by a CVD method, and the raw material is not natural graphite, and industrialization takes a certain time.
“Graphite resources are strategic mineral resources, and graphene is a strategic emerging material.†Liu Ronghua introduced that at the end of last year, crystalline graphite was listed as a national strategic mineral resource in terms of resource allocation, financial input, major projects, mining land, etc. Strengthen guidance and differentiated management, improve resource security supply capacity and development and utilization level. In a sense, the graphite resource is given by “Godâ€, which reflects the role of raw materials and is used in industries such as metallurgy, fire resistance, casting, friction, sealing and lithium batteries. The “13th Five-Year Plan for the Development of Strategic Emerging Industries†includes graphene, which is highly technically intensive, with high investment in research and development, high added value of products, international strength in production and market, and Wide application range and good development prospects.
As far as the current development is concerned, the development and utilization of graphite resources is already a mature industry in China, and the graphene industry has not yet formed a scale. In particular, the crystalline graphite industry produces an average of 700,000 tons of crystalline graphite per year. Heilongjiang Jixi, Luobei, Inner Mongolia Xinghe County and Qingdao Nanshu, Pingdu, etc. are important production areas of crystalline graphite in China, and have formed a complete graphite industrial chain such as mining, purification and deep processing, for local economic development. Make a certain contribution.
After the inventors of graphene won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010, graphene has since entered the public's field of vision, and has set off a research boom in the preparation and application of graphene on a global scale. China's research in the field of graphene started relatively late with developed countries, but in recent years, it has been at the world's leading level in the field of graphene industrialization and application. As of the end of 2016, China's graphene applications have made breakthroughs in new energy, health, energy conservation and environmental protection, composite materials and other fields, and some graphene enterprises began to have profits.
“However, at present, the domestic graphene industry accounts for a large number of small and start-up graphene enterprises, and the number of medium-sized and large-scale enterprises is relatively small. Although graphene research is very hot today, in contrast to the product market, products that are truly commercialized. Therefore, in the graphite resource area, it is recommended to focus on the development of graphite deep processing products, such as high-purity graphite, expandable graphite, spherical graphite, and anode materials, which bring income and tax to the local area. Graphene is in a short time. It is difficult to form a scale." Liu Ronghua admits.
Graphite resources and graphene also have significant differences in properties. Graphite resources have asset attributes, while graphene is a technology and capital-intensive industry. In recent years, there have been many cases of mergers and acquisitions in the graphite industry, especially the acquisition of graphite mineral resources by listed companies. The valuation has increased several times, and the highest has reached 18 times. From this point of view, graphite resources are an asset with a value-added space. In particular, the rapid development of power batteries, the demand for graphite has increased rapidly, thereby increasing the valuation of graphite resources.
Graphene is a technology-intensive industry with high requirements for talent. At the same time, graphene is also a capital-intensive industry. In the preparation and development of graphene, especially application research and development, it requires a lot of capital investment. For example, Changzhou and Wuxi, which have relatively fast development of domestic graphene, have introduced some policies to attract high-end talents at home and abroad, and have made a lot of money to support graphene enterprises.
“In the graphite resource area, encourage the introduction of powerful enterprises to integrate, avoid waste of resources, disorderly competition, and increase industry concentration. Only large enterprises have the incentive to invest in graphite deep processing research and excavate graphite high value-added products. Graphene Development in economically developed areas has advantages, because economically developed regions can gather high-end talents, and the local government also has the financial resources to support the research and development of graphene." Liu Ronghua suggested.
Graphene virtual fire when falling early
Ideal is full, the reality is very skinny. In fact, the current phenomenon of excessive graphene fire in China has caused concern in the industry.
"The graphene industry is still in the basic research stage, and there is still a long way to go from industrialization. However, the speculation is very powerful now. This will cause fatal obstacles and damage to the subsequent development of this emerging industry." Said.
It is understood that China currently has more than 400 related companies engaged in R&D, production and application of graphene, accounting for about 3/4 of the total graphene industry in the world. However, from the perspective of enterprise scale, more than 80% of the enterprises engaged in graphene production in China are small and medium-sized enterprises, and the annual sales are mostly at the level of one million yuan. It is worth noting that the overall profitability of domestic graphene production enterprises is very weak. Some production enterprises claiming to have an annual production capacity of 100 tons have far less than expected output value and profitability, and most enterprises are at a loss.
It is particularly noteworthy that some companies and institutions are currently gaining income through capital speculation, and they are exaggerating the productivity and output value of the graphene industry, causing the market to follow suit blindly. And some places have also contributed to the construction of graphene industrial parks, regardless of whether they have the conditions. According to preliminary statistics, nearly 20 graphene industrial parks have been built or under construction in the country, but their positioning and functionality are almost the same. In the future, there will be serious homogenization competition, and the low-price pattern will lead to corporate profits. The decline in capacity is not conducive to the continued development of the industry.
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