First Graphene (ASX:FGR) has entered an exclusive licence agreement with solar cell developer Halocell Australia for the development, production, marketing, and sale of graphene-based carbon paste products.
The one-year extension agreement provides First Graphene global exclusivity to develop and sell products containing its PureGRAPH.
Halocell will receive a 10% royalty on sales made from the product, while also using it in the manufacturing of its perovskite solar cells (PSC).
The companies will begin creating a manufacturing sample graphene enhanced carbon paste material at First Graphene’s Henderson facility within the next month.
PureGRAPH is First Graphene’s trademarked range of graphene products that act as “high performing additives” across a number of consumer and industrial sectors. The range is designed to enable easy dispersion in a broad range of materials, including plastics, composites, rubbers and elastomers, cement and concrete, as well as inks and coatings.
The extended agreement builds on an existing joint development and cooperative research centre partners agreement, which introduced graphene to carbon paste in order to fine tune formulation, concentrations, components, and syntheses.
The integration of paste has doubled PSC efficiency to more than 30% while simultaneously reducing production costs through the use of roll-to-roll deposition technology.
First Graphene CEO Michael Bell says reinvigorated partnership intends to accelerate improvements in the solar technology space, while also “bringing enhanced PSCs to market”.
“Through this agreement, we can leverage carbon paste intellectual property already developed and take this product to global markets, which is mutually beneficial to Halocell in meeting their own ambitious manufacturing targets to help meet growing product demand for PSCs,” Bell says.
“While the carbon paste market is set to more than double to circa US$2.8 billion ($4.33 million) by 2032, the real opportunity comes from the multitude of applications and products that can benefit from better performance, longevity, and efficiency our PureGRAPH offers.”
Halocell CEO Paul Moonie says the partnership with First Graphene has produced “groundbreaking module efficiency” and roll-to-roll deposition production results.
“We see this additional agreement as an excellent opportunity to market graphene-enhanced carbon paste to technology developers around the world and demonstrate how Australian manufacturing is at the forefront of this new age material revolution,” Moonie says.
The partnership has already identified 44 additional devices that may benefit from PSC technology, including the satellite, aerospace, electronics, and renewable energy sectors.
Graphene has a number of different applications including electronics, energy storage, and biomedical fields, for its strength, flexibility, and conductivity. The material is often used to strengthen and lighten materials, to create solar panels and batteries, and to develop sensors and medical tools.
First Graphene is a developer and supplier of graphitic materials and product formulations with a specific commercial focus on global markets including cement and concrete.
Write to Maddison Elliott at Mining.com.au
Images: First Graphene
