Graphene shows how WA can diversify its economy

Western Australia extracts an abundance of wealthiness from its ground. Iron ore, golden and nickel person made WA rich, but we request to put that money successful our future.

One materials exertion institution is paving nan way. 

First Graphene manufactures graphene successful Henderson. It besides holds investigation offices successful Manchester, wherever graphene was discovered 21 years ago.

Graphene’s exertion trigger

Graphene is simply a carbon crystal structure. Carbon atoms enslaved into a honeycomb building 1 atom thick.

Stacking layers of graphene together, for illustration honeycomb layers successful a beehive, creates graphite.

Graphite occurs naturally, and humans person utilized it since nan Neolithic era. It’s a key constituent of pencils.  

But graphene was only discovered successful 2004.

Its discovery generated media hype, pinch nan ‘cousin of coal’ graphene heralded arsenic a wonderment material.

Now, it appears to beryllium starting to unrecorded up to this promise.

Caption: Graphene becoming caller materials – near to right: bucky balls, nanotubes and graphite
Credit: AK Geim and KS Novoselov/Nature

Australia’s economical trough

While Australia is among nan world’s richest nations, we person 1 of nan simplest economies.

Harvard University’s scale of economical complexity classed Australia 105th of 145 countries. Our rank has been slowly dropping complete nan past 20 years.

Australia’s system relies connected a fewer cardinal industries, including mining, agriculture and existent estate.

This yields WA’s mining roar and bust cycle and abrupt unemployment changes.

Investors’ expectations 

Australia’s system is heavy linked to mining, though a recent Australian Security Exchange (ASX) report recovered finance successful caller technologies.

CEO and Managing Director of First Graphene Mike Bell supports this finding. First Graphene manufactures graphene products astatine its Henderson tract to waste internationally.

Mike says immoderate investors incorrectly presume First Graphene is simply a mining company.

“Investors [are acquainted with] successes done mining, [where] a batch of nan worth and money is made successful nan early stage,” says Mike. 

“Turning it into a excavation and moving down an plus is thing that they’re much acquainted with.” 

Mike cites nan short way from first discovery to commercialized usage arsenic impervious graphene is simply a maturation investment. 

“We’re talking astir creating intelligence spot and this worldly that grows a business complete time,” says Mike.

The slope of enlightenment

The Gartner hype cycle describes exertion booms complete time.

Caption: The Gartner hype rhythm describes really nationalist attitudes alteration complete clip towards a caller technology
Credit: Jeremykemp/Wikicommons

If nan 2010s represented graphene’s trough of disillusionment, it could beryllium heading towards its slope of enlightenment.  

First Graphene useful pinch industries to commercialise graphene. It has developed an additive that strengthens cement, improves durability and occurrence retardance and lowers manufacturing emissions.

It adds graphene to fibreglass successful swimming pools to amended their spot and trim weight while moving pinch Aquatic Leisure Technologies.

And graphene successful perovskite star cells reduces toxic artillery waste. 

Cleaner powerfulness = greener materials

Mike says unit and power are nan main challenges of moving a materials exertion institution successful WA.

“[Finding] personification that’s a worldly intelligence of bully calibre and acquisition is very uncommon here. We besides person a batch of soiled powerfulness present successful Western Australia and it’s expensive,” says Mike.

“Trying to transportation our materials arsenic being greener and extending nan life of materials, reducing CO2, we person to return that soiled powerfulness into account.” 

Dirty power is energy that is highly polluting and inefficient. Most of WA’s energy still comes from ember and earthy gas.

“Through a targeted accumulation statement … astatine our Henderson facility, we’re now capable to create graphene [with] benefits [that] outweigh immoderate CO2 publication our powerfulness needs would create,” says Mike.

Caption: First Graphene are manufacturing graphene for a assortment of different purposes.
Credit: First Graphene

Beyond nan economical plateau

Developing and diversifying Australia’s system intends investing into industries different than our top performers. 

This would make Australia much resilient to world economical alteration and supply accrued opportunities for workers.

First Graphene has demonstrated that WA tin go a exertion hub if nan authorities government provides opportunities – specified arsenic processing exertion expertise, renewable power and investigation finance to assistance manufacturing. 

If WA remains an extraction economy, 1 time location will beryllium thing near to extract.