MSU researchers get $1M grant from Korean company for new graphite material

By Emily Wilkins | Originally Published: 07/13/10 7:29pm | No comments

It was the breakthrough Hiroyuki Fukushima had been hoping for.

After cofounding XG Sciences, Inc. with Lawrence Drzal, a professor of chemical engineering and materials science at MSU, the company signed an agreement Monday to be funded at least $1 million through the Hanwha Group, the ninth-largest conglomerate in South Korea.

XG Sciences produces a form of a graphite called xGnP brand graphene nanoplatelets, essentially a lighter form of graphite created by sliding apart the microscopic material that makes up graphite.

The Hanwha Group produces materials and chemicals for automobiles and consumer goods, such as batteries. The partnership between Hanwha and XG Sciences will begin September 30.

In 2007, XG Sciences was formed with the intention of marketing the graphene nanoplatelets. The Michigan Economic Development Corporation gave the group a $2 million grant to research producing the material on a larger scale. Still, the company still needed a more investments to mass-produce the graphene nanoplatelets.

“It’s a big breakthrough,” said Fukushima, a research specialist at MSU’s Composite Materials and Structures Center. “It’s probably the biggest breakthrough we have had so far in term of business increase and attracting more people to our technology.”

Officials at Hanwha Group said they are looking forward to working with XG Sciences and MSU. Although the agreement with XG Sciences is part of a plan for the group to expand into North America, they have worked with MSU in the past.

AZDEL, a company Hanwha acquired two years ago, had collaborated with MSU on a material called SuperLite, used on the interior ceilings of cars.

“MSU has the experts on composite material,” said Daniel Yu, president and CEO of Hanwha L&C USA. “We are very interested in working with MSU.”

Graphite is an good conductor of electricity and can withstand high levels of heat, making it ideal to add to other materials such as plastics, Drzal said. Other practical applications include uses in planes and automobiles.

Drzal has been doing research on the material since 2000, and his former students, Fukushima and Inhwan Do, earned their doctoral degrees while working on the graphene nanoplatelets. Drzal said he felt the material had potential and wanted to begin a company to mass-produce it.

“We went to university and said, ‘Here’s an opportunity for us to take something developed at MSU and start a company that would create jobs in Michigan,’” Drzal said.

The group is producing a few pounds of the material a day, and with the investment from the Hanwha Group, Drzal said production can increase to 1,000 pounds a day.

“Up to a few months ago, all we were able to do was build a small scale pilot facility in Lansing,” Drzal said.

XG Sciences’ founders do not know the exact amount they will receive from Hanwha Group until the partnership begins in September, although Drzal said it will be at least $1 million.