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New methods are developed for electrical characterisation of graphene

Graphene is tipped to underpin a new generation of electronics (flexible/wearable and beyond CMOS integrated devices) and energy applications (photovoltaic, batteries, supercapacitors), but is held back by challenges in producing large areas with uniform electrical properties. As new methods of graphene production are developed, there is a need for accurate and reproducible characterisation methods suited to the unique properties of graphene.

EMPIR project ‘Developing electrical characterisation methods for future graphene electronics’ (GRACE, 16NRM01) which is now drawing to its close has been working to investigate new and existing methodologies for the electrical characterisation of graphene to develop an accurate and traceable approach, and develop high-throughput electrical characterisation approaches.

The project consortium has published two Good Practice Guides for the electrical characterisation of graphene. These guides are intended for manufacturers who want to characterise their material following validated and accepted methods, and for industries who need to integrate graphene with traceable properties into their commercial products.

The two guides are:

• Electrical characterisation of graphene using contact methods which enables users to reliably, quantitatively and comparably measure the electrical properties of commercially supplied graphene. The guide forms the basis for future international standards in this area, specifically, standards currently under development within IEC/TC 113 ‘Nanotechnology for electrotechnical products and systems’ for the characterisation of the electrical properties of graphene. This will lead to the continual improvement in the measurement of the electrical properties of graphene, as well as reveal any reproducibility issues in performing these graphene measurements in different laboratories across the world.
• Electrical characterisation of graphene using non-contact and high-throughput methods supports the development of high-throughput approach for the electrical characterisation of graphene, with the development of novel methodologies for non-contact electrical characterisations and their validation with established techniques, including in line and in lab characterisation.

Project Coordinator Luca Callegaro from INRIM said

‘The GRACE project represents a very successful synergy between research institutions, industry and standardisation bodies, working together on an emerging and wide-impact material such as graphene.’

The work of this project will enable the characterisation of graphene as an industrial product, enabling validated commercial specifications of graphene to be produced at an industrial scale, and allowing customers to reliably identify suitable graphene products for their applications.

This EMPIR project is co-funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and the EMPIR Participating States.

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