In recent years, the so-called “miracle material” graphene has often been predicted to become a new, revolutionary technology. But despite the material’s unique characteristics and the prospect of a wide range of possible uses, graphene didn’t really take off, partly due to the lack of mass production and the associated lack of reasonable prices. Since 2018, however, the companies being active in this sector made great signs of progresses. Graphene gained additional attention as various companies pushed the use of the material in more and more industries, including mining, automotive, and the battery market. The question is now: what to expect from graphene soon and what graphene stocks are available to invest in already?
10 Graphene Stocks To Watch
This is an overview of companies with a graphene-only portfolio or with a strong graphene-related portfolio, like companies with subsidiaries, mineral exploration on graphite, engineering solutions for nanotechnologies and thus for graphene, etc.
- First Graphene (FGPHF), Country: USA
- Haydale Graphene Industries (HAYD), Country: UK
- Zentek Ltd. (ZTEK), Country: USA
- Versarien (VRS), Country: UK
- Applied Graphene Materials (AGM), Country: UK
- G6 Materials (GPHBF), Country: USA
- Archer Materials (ARRXF), Country: Australia
- Directa Plus (DTPKF), Country: Italy
- Comet Resources (CRL), Country: Australia
- Graphene Manufacturing Group (GMG), Country: Canada
This list is not a final one and as time will passing by, there would be more graphene stock companies.
Graphene Related Stocks
This list shows you a selection of companies that have graphene-based products in their portfolio or doing research to integrate graphene products into their portfolio, like coatings, carbon lacks, specialty compounds, screens, computer chips, and so on.
- Cabot Corporation (CBT), Country: USA
- Aixtron (AIXA), Country: Germany
- Samsung (SMSN), Country: South Korea
- Intel (INTC), Country: USA
- Nokia (NOKIA), Country: Finland
- Sony (SONY), Country: Japan
- IBM (IBM), Country: USA
Brief Retrospect Of Graphene
The precursors of graphene go back to the year 1859 when the English chemist Benjamin Brodie found out that graphite oxide had a highly lamellar structure. But already in 1840, there were chemical modifications of graphite documented.
Further observations and explorations took since then part, e.g. in 1947, when Canadian theoretical physicists explored the theory of graphene. There were a lot of other different approaches and explorations about it.
But until 2004, the work on graphene remained theoretical because it was scientifically proven that two-dimensional structures are thermodynamically unstable.
However, in 2004, the scientists Konstantin Novoselov and Andre Geim who were employed at the University of Manchester at that time, discovered the possibility of isolation of stable two-dimensional graphite layers resulting in the material we know today as graphene.
Where Do We Stand Today With Graphene?
Since 2004 with the shown possibility of stable two-dimensional graphite layers, there has been a lot of progress ongoing. Here are three examples:
- German scientists at the Freie Universität Berlin, Friedrich-Alexander-Universitiy Erlangen-Nürnberg, and Ulm University succeeded to stabilize individual carbon layers of graphite. This is a big step because understanding the chemical functionalization of graphene is crucial to produce high-quality graphene as a mass product.
- In Washington DC, James K. Freericks and other scientists found out that it is possible to control graphene’s characteristics around 1 million times faster by using a simple laser ray pulse instead of a computer processor.
- At the German university Bielefeld, scientists experimented and found out that graphene can be used to change current frequencies very efficiently. Graphene turned out to be many times better than all other known materials. It also can be used to generate frequencies in the terahertz range. This frequency range is technologically very important because of its characteristics. For example, hidden explosives or drugs can be detected using this frequency range. This frequency can also reveal which substances are flowing through a plastic pipe. Also, due to its low energy, terahertz radiation is harmless to humans and other living beings. In practice, there are hardly any restrictions on the possible locations.
These were just three examples, and science doesn’t sleep. For instance, with the research initiative Graphene Flagship which was founded by the European Union, there was one of the largest joints founded of its kind in the world. This unique joint brings academic and industrial researchers with the aim to enable cheap mass production of graphene. Hence, maybe it’s just a matter of time before the breakthrough happens. And with it, a mere new world of investing possibilities would open, not only with graphene stocks but also in almost every area of our daily lives. Because of its characteristics, graphene could change almost everything and also replace plastic. Imagine, what this would mean!
But there are still tons of challenges to the methods of production, and that’s currently still a catch. More about it later in the article. But for now, let’s summarize the characteristics of graphene.
Characteristics Of Graphene
Graphene is truthfully an all-purpose material, and the more the science is doing the research the more characteristics come to light. Here is a list of those that are known so far:
- Graphene is one atom thick
- It’s 1000 times lighter than paper
- Excellent charge carrier – Because of their arrangement, atoms can interact with each other. As a result, the carbon atoms fool the charge carriers into believing that they are massless and are moving at close to the speed of light. The behavior of the electrons also ensures that graphene conducts electricity more than one and a half times better than copper and can therefore be a component of fast-charging energy storage devices.
- Under certain conditions, graphene can take on the properties of a superconductor, which means that it can conduct electricity without losses. With the usual metals, there is always a loss due to the so-called electrical resistance.
- It can convert light into electronic signals
- Graphene is 100 up to 200 times stronger than steel
- At the same time, it has a relatively high degree of flexibility (up to 20% in length or width)
- A membrane made of oxidized graphene is completely impervious to gases, but at the same time permeable to water.
- Graphene is not just a very sustainable material but also contributes to sustainable solutions like clean water or renewable energy
Possible Use Cases For Graphene
- Solar cells: Graphene is extremely conductive and completely translucent while being non-toxic. This makes it perfect as a contact layer in solar cells to dissipate electricity without reducing exposure of light. After some research work, it has been found that graphene keeps its impressive conductive characteristics when it’s covered with a thin layer of silicon.
- Water filtration, gas separation, and desalination: as graphene is permeable to water but impervious to gases, there are plenty of use cases possible. Imagine a world with clean waters, or graphene packaging keeping perishable produce fresher for a longer time. But also the big challenge of our times – water shortage – can be solved by using graphene membranes. Once the technological breakthrough happens, we could have as much fresh water as we want. Actually, with such technology, it would be possible to revegetate complete deserts! And with it, it would not only mean enormous investing potential with graphene stocks but also indirectly investing in biodiversity.
- Batteries: The well-known lithium-ion batteries charge relatively slowly, lose charge capacity quickly and burn out after a set number of charge cycles. That’s because the electrochemical process in lithium-ion batteries generates a lot of heat.
But because graphene is the world’s most efficient conductor of electricity, it generates far less heat when charging or discharging electricity. Graphene-based batteries promise five times faster charge speeds than lithium-ion, three times longer battery life, and five times as many cycles before they need to be replaced.
There were rumors that Samsung was developing graphene-based batteries for smartphones and other devices and that they would be launched in 2021. But since then nothing more is known about it, and so far there are no smartphones with a graphene battery available, neither from Samsung nor from other companies. But the mere fact that large companies are researching and working on graphene batteries shows that it is probably only a matter of time before the breakthrough occurs.
Although there are currently no pure graphene batteries available, there are at least graphene-based batteries on the market, including power banks from the company called Real Graphene.
In addition, Graphene Flagship research partners have already produced graphene batteries. These are the best high-energy cells available today. They already exceed today’s conventional batteries by 20 percent in capacity and 15 percent in energy. - Biosensors: Cell-based biosensors can simulate the effects of drugs on the human body in the laboratory. But manufacturing such cell-based biosensors can be very expensive. That’s why they are often not used. Scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering have developed a printing process that makes it possible to produce graphene biosensors in large quantities at low cost. But this should be marked just as starting point of the journey.
Imagine a biosensor that can be inserted into the bloodstream to measure vital signs. Vital values but also other values such as insulin levels, blood pressure, cholesterol, hormone levels, and so on. Or even better, a biosensor made of graphene that can detect an impending epileptic seizure in time, so that the affected person can react early enough. Such a graphene biosensor would be thin and elastic. Therefore, it could be attached directly to the skin or sewn into clothing, e.g. for astronauts, pilots, soldiers, firefighters, etc. - Graphene-based paint: Paint made on a basis of graphene can be incredibly useful. For instance, such paint can be used as a coating which would have an anti-corrosion effect and an anti-scratch effect but also make surfaces more water resistant.
- Graphene displays: because of its characteristics, graphene can be used as a display for smartphones, smart TVs, computer monitors, and so on. The advantage of these screens would be that they would be flexible. But there are more advantages: flexible graphene displays would be much easier and more cost-effective to be produced. And it wouldn’t need any backlight (as opposed to the current OLED or LED screens) because it would be just a “couple” of atoms thick.
When Will Graphene Be Ready For Broad Mass Production?
Since 2013, there has been news that scientists and experts have found ways to produce graphene on a very affordable basis. But the question is then: if the production of graphene has got such cheap, why we don’t have graphene-based products around us?
The reason for this is usually that the methods of cheap graphene production were researched in labs. But production in a lab is a completely different thing than mass production under industrial conditions in the real world. And as the graphene industry is like every other industry, it just takes its time!
The other reason is that there is no single type of graphene but every product type would need its own graphene type. Therefore, when there is some news coming out about cheap graphene production methods, it’s usually applicable just to a certain type of graphene. In all other cases, the situation is still the same – the production costs of graphene are still very high. And here we are again, it all takes its time to develop the right product with the right graphene type.
My personal estimation is that a real broad graphene industry is not expected before 2030. Maybe even later than 2030. If you are skeptical about my opinion, then maybe the Graphene Flagship’s study would persuade you. In this study, it’s estimated that from 2025, there could be a stronger market penetration with graphene mass products. And in 2030, there would be a reevaluation of whether graphene has real disruptive potential.
But we already can see some first graphene-based products available. Most of them are used in wall paints, coatings, compound materials, and power banks.
What Graphene Mass Products Are To Be Expected First?
Besides the ones I mentioned above, there is a good chance that mass products like batteries, solar panels, electronic end devices, or medical technologies would come first. My estimation lies in batteries and solar panels. I will come back on it in 2026 for a retrospect! But to be realistic, the battery industry is pretty conservative. Therefore, just wait and see what happens.
Is It Worth To Invest In Graphene Stocks?
So is it worth investing in graphene stocks right now? In my humble opinion, I have to say that it’s currently not worth buying graphene stocks. At least not from companies specialized solely in graphene. The risk of failing is just too big and there are too many challenges to be mastered before graphene gets usable for mass production. Indeed, it’s rather worthwhile investing in quantum computing instead of buying pure graphene stocks. If you want to buy graphene stocks nonetheless, it’s better to invest in companies having graphene as a niche product in their product portfolio. Nevertheless, this material could have a very bright future once the breakthrough is succeeded. Hence, even if it’s currently not worth to invest in graphene stocks, it’s worth to putting them on a watchlist. At least, I have them on mine. And as usual, the time will do the rest.
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