‘It’s horses for courses, you need the appropriate material for each application,’ adds Coleman. This is ideal for applications in composites, polymers and printed films, among others. The flakes this method produces have a high aspect ratio – they’re big and thick. ‘Graphene and layered materials do many things really, really well,’ explains Coleman, only because ‘there are many different types, sizes, shapes and morphologies … with many different applications’. It’s important to understand that graphene isn’t just a single monolayer of carbon atoms, but rather a concept encompassing different forms and families of materials. Sometimes, the liquid solutions stay stuck on the nanosheets, affecting factors like conductivity. And, although today many manufacturing methods seamlessly work with liquids, ‘there’s some advantages to not having liquids around’, he says. ‘At the end of the process, the sticky tape that surrounded the rollers is completely covered in graphene, molybdenum disulfide or whatever layered material.’Ĭoleman is known for the development of liquid phase exfoliation of 2D materials, a technique that yields suspensions and inks, which accelerated applications in industry. ‘It’s similar to the sticky tape method, but the spinning rolls result in repeated mechanical exfoliation,’ he adds.

‘I’ve seen in action … and I was very, very impressed by it,’ says Jonathan Coleman, an expert in nanomaterials based at Trinity College Dublin, in Ireland. This transfer technique avoids traditional high-temperature treatments, which damage the materials.

‘We also present a simple method to transfer the nanosheets,’ says Castellanos. It also works with graphite, as well as other layered crystals, including boron nitride, molybdenum disulfide and black phosphorus. On top of higher speeds and efficiency, the method offers opportunities for automation, which could catalyse commercial uptake. ‘We’ve developed a low-cost method fabricate nanosheets with excellent electrical and optical properties,’ says Andrés Castellanos Gómez from the Institute of Materials Science of Madrid, Spain, lead author of the paper.

Unlike the memorable manual method of mechanical exfoliation – rewarded with the Nobel prize in physics in 2010 – this roll-to-roll system could be easily integrated into industrial assembly lines, accelerating the development of graphene transistors and photodetectors. A new technology rapidly rolls adhesive tape to get graphene flakes cheaply and efficiently.

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