Graphene for Electronics Making Strides Towards ISO Standards

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MITO® Material Solutions and Cardea Bio, Inc. are pleased to announce significant progress in the international efforts to standardize graphene together with the National Institute of Standards (NIST). Brett Goldsmith, PhD, Chief Technology Officer at Cardea recently returned from the International Standards Organization (ISO) meeting that took place at the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington, UK, during which graphene material documentary standards took important steps forward.

"We see a bright future for diagnostic tools based on graphene electronics, but we're not waiting for that future - we're making it happen! Part of that means driving reliability and predictability in the graphene material industry. That's why we are committed to supporting the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) to ISO TC 229," notes the Chief Technology Officer at Cardea, Brett Goldsmith, PhD.

Expertise in standardization for the efforts is supported by staff from the National Institute of Standards (NIST). On the graphene Technical Specification team, that expertise came from Dr. Angela Hight Walker, a Senior Scientist at NIST. Dr. Hight Walker states, "Graphene will play a major role in multiple industries; developing documentary standards will certainly hasten the pace. Leadership by U.S. industry in developing standards is critical for emerging technologies. Having US companies like MITO Materials and Cardea spearhead standards discussions indicates a new threshold of maturity for the U.S.-based graphene industry."

The leader of the effort to draft this Technical Specification is Caio Lo Sardo, the Vice President at MITO® Material Solutions. "Our flagship product, E-GO™, is an additive used in materials like fiber reinforced thermoplastics and thermosets to improve performance in composite applications across several industries," states Caio Lo Sardo. "For us to serve growing markets, we need to deliver increasing quantities of materials while also meeting EPA/TSCA registration requirements. As a graphene consumer, we need to be able to ensure that the materials we use are within specs, consistent, and meets regulatory standards. As a leader in graphene-based additives, it makes sense for us to lead and actively participate in this standardization project."

The draft Technical Specification is based on the framework created by The Graphene Council, the leading industry source for graphene commercial application, production, and research intelligence. The Graphene Council's framework was put together with the help of more than 100 Graphene Council members. Goldsmith adds. "The Graphene Council framework we started with at ANSI was itself ambitious and comprehensive. As a standards draft document, we needed to shift the language and focus to help us work with regulatory bodies with clarity and confidence.

"In working with Caio on this project, he had this view of graphene that was radically different from mine and the industry we work in. Caio's interested in bulk powders, plastic mixes, and EPA regulations that our business doesn't have to worry about. I'm focused on graphene monolayers for electronics fab and FDA requirements for medical devices and diagnostics," Goldsmith explains. "However, in the end, we found that we both have similar problems. To grow our products, we both need a better regulatory framework for the graphene material vendors we work with. I think that likely led both of us to the Graphene Council, ANSI, and ISO."

ISO Technical Committee (TC) 229 focuses on Nanotechnologies. The group of people working on graphene standards in this committee includes a mix of industry, academia, and government lab scientists with a variety of technical backgrounds and perspectives, working as part of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI)-Accredited U.S, TAG to ISO TC 229. These varied perspectives have combined to create a unified draft Technical Specification that is expected to help drive the commercialization of products that contain graphene by giving industry tools to help separate hype from reality. Titled The classification framework for graphene-related 2D materials, the document will move from a preliminary work item to a formal Technical Specification project as early as Spring 2023.