First Graphene Ltd (ASX:FGR, OTCQB:FGPHF) has secured a pivotal patent in the US for its novel supercapacitor technology.
The exclusive worldwide licence positions the graphene stock to advance research and development with a view to scale up its technology and meet budding demand in the supercapacitor market.
Essentially, FGR’s tech — developed by a team at the University of Manchester — develops metal oxide decorated products that outperform existing activated carbon used in supercapacitors.
The same technology has also proven its worth as an effective and cheaper electro-catalyst for oxygen reduction reactions in fuel cells.
Scaling up opportunity
First Graphene managing director and CEO Michael Bell said: “Having this novel technology protected by patent in the US provides the opportunity to actively engage with industry to further develop our solutions in the supercapacitor space.
“At the same time, First Graphene has made great progress over the UK summer to overcome a range of challenges identified in earlier test work.
“We are now at the point of being able to scale up the technology from coin cell to pouch cell size for further lifecycle testing and optimisation.
“This progress now puts the company in the position to partner with industry and take another step towards the commercialisation of this novel supercapacitor technology.”
What’s the market outlook?
The supercapacitor device market is projected to grow from US$409 million in 2020 to US$720 million by 2025 at an expected compound annual growth rate of 12%.
This burgeoning market is fuelled by increasing demand in energy harvesting applications and the growing use in transport infrastructure like trains and aircraft.
Moreover, the increasing global demand for electric vehicles is likely to bring on further growth in the market.
First Graphene chalks the supercapacitator appeal up to its energy and speed potential — it stores more energy than a traditional capacitor and delivers it at a higher rate than a battery.
A recent report by leading nanotechnology publication Azo Nano highlighted the potential to combine supercapacitors with battery technology to deliver optimised hybrid systems.
The report stated: “Within the next five years, graphene supercapacitors are likely to be utilised in laptops, smartphones, electronics, public transportation, and many other applications due to increased development in terms of energy storage limits.”
Noses to the grindstone
As it dreams of scaling up its technology to meet grown demand, First Graphene continues to work with the Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG) and the University of Manchester on the supercapacitor program.
Partly funded through an Innovate UK grant, First Graphene has proven that its coin cell technology can deliver considerably improved performance over the more commonly used activated carbon.
The breakthrough has been described by Azo Nano as a “watershed moment” and will now enable the focus to shift to upscaling the technology.
As such, FGR is setting its sights on pouch cell construction. This format, while not intended for commercial release, paves the way for relatively simple and rapid construction as a platform for lifecycle testing.
Investigating supercapacitator materials
Working with experts at Manchester Fuel Cell Innovation Centre, First Graphene has also found evidence that metal oxide-coated PureGRAPH® is an effective catalyst for oxygen reduction reactions in fuel cells.
The findings pave the way for a cheaper alternative to platinum, which is currently used as the preferred catalyst.
The company’s collaboration with WMG (regarding supercapacitor materials) is now in its second iteration — part of an ongoing program to manufacture, test, optimise and repeat FGR’s work to identify the best performance configurations.
Work is underway on product optimisation, so formulations will be a key enabler to advancing research and development in this area. As such, First Graphene is actively searching for partners who can advance this R&D work.