News — william blythe

Graphene oxide was first reported in the literature over 150 years ago, at a time when there was little interest in exploring the benefits of the material in the multitude of application areas it is currently being used in. Interest in graphene oxide rose dramatically with the discovery of, and Nobel prize for, graphene. The subsequent years have seen the use of graphene oxide in a diverse range of applications, with many researchers focussing on graphene oxide as a potential precursor material for graphene with specific graphene oxide applications now under development.

With no suppliers, initial graphene oxide researchers were unable to purchase graphene oxide and therefore synthesised all of their own material. Despite multiple graphene oxide suppliers launching a variety of products for this market in the past few years, some researchers are still undecided as to whether they should purchase or make their own graphene oxide for their work. While William Blythe understand that there are always reasons to synthesise your own graphene oxide, we have tried to overcome some of the most common concerns around purchase with our GOgraphene webshop.

Consistent quality 

William Blythe are aware that some suppliers do not offer a consistent product. As an established chemicals manufacturer with over 150 years’ experience supplying chemicals, we ensure our graphene oxide meets the same high standards as our other products before we dispatch your order.

Flexibility

Buying from someone else will always reduce some of the flexibility compared to in house synthesis. William Blythe have tried to overcome this by offering multiple product forms, developing a high concentration dispersion which can be easily diluted and by taking requests for custom functionalisation of our standard material.

Availability 

To keep results comparable, most researchers do not want to swap materials supply part way through their research programme. We monitor our stock levels carefully to make sure we always have enough of our graphene oxide to fulfil our orders. Keep an eye on our lead times if you have any concerns

Volume 

Graphene oxide is currently only available for purchase online in relatively low quantities. Some researchers are concerned that the raw materials availability will prevent their application from being scalable. As William Blythe has already developed scale-up plans, this need not be a concern. Not only is our process is scalable, but within 12 months of demand projections requiring it, William Blythe can scale on to a dedicated multi-tonne production facility.

Price 

Some materials suppliers fluctuate their prices, meaning there are some researchers who do not want to become reliant on a materials supplier. The graphene oxide available on the GOgraphene webshop has never been increased in price. Depending on the currency you are purchasing in, the screen may display slight variations, however our GBP pricing has not been increased since launch.

We hope that the above helps to alleviate some of the concerns which we know exist in the marketplace. If you have other concerns or questions regarding purchase versus in house synthesis, please get in touch. There are a host of benefits to purchasing graphene oxide, including saving time and removing the need for hazardous synthesis. If you are ready to switch to buying graphene oxide, please take a look at our current product portfolio.

The GOgraphene team have added a new Graphene Oxide Analysis page to the webshop

There are currently no industry standards for analysing graphene related materials, however as the volume of research surrounding this exciting family of two dimensional materials grows, best practises for analysis are emerging. In order to provide the most relevant information to GOgraphene customers, William Blythe has worked extensively to gather high quality analysis using the techniques most appropriate to characterise the graphene oxide materials manufactured at their site in the UK.

Previously, William Blythe has communicated new graphene oxide analysis via the blog and in the specification of the products available online. To make this information easier to access, a new Graphene Oxide Analysis page has been added to the GOgraphene site. Information currently available on the page includes XPS (X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy), TGA (thermogravimetric analysis), AFM (atomic force microscopy), and SEM (scanning electron microscopy) on typical batches of their graphene oxide products. Wherever possible, the results are backed up with visual representations of the analysis, generally in the form of the raw data obtained by William Blythe on their products. The intention of this page is to provide GOgraphene customers with direct access to the most up-to date information on the products they are purchasing. As new analysis is obtained by William Blythe on their products, new entries will be added to the page and any existing information will be updated if new data becomes available. Any new additions to the Graphene Oxide Analysis page will be communicated via the GOgraphene blog, with all entries on the Graphene Oxide Analysis page entered in alphabetical order to make navigation to the data easier.

William Blythe intends to support the development of commercial applications for graphene oxide materials by working with customers. If you have any questions about the analytical results displayed on this site, or would like the GOgraphene team to consider carrying out other characterisation techniques on their products, please get in touch and a member of the team will be happy to discuss your needs further.

Last year was a busy year for the GOgraphene team, with the launch of the graphene oxide webshop in August 2016. Over the past few months GOgraphene have worked hard to improve the site based on customer feedback. This has led to the addition of an FAQ page to help customers understand more about graphene oxide as a material as well as the products available through their webshop. GOgraphene have also added a new Delivery Charges page to allow customers the opportunity to estimate their delivery charges before they proceed to checkout. Delivery charges are based on the shipping destination, with free shipping on all orders over $500.

As well as adding new pages, the GOgraphene team have also added graphene oxide flake to their product listings. As a product, the GOgraphene team believe this sits well between the graphene oxide powder and aqueous dispersions previously available on the site. This is because graphene oxide flake allows customers to use their graphene oxide in non-aqueous systems but at a lower cost than the freeze dried powder. The difference in cost is a direct consequence of the alternative drying technique used. It should be noted that graphene oxide flake will not be suitable for all researchers as it will need high energy sonication to achieve a dispersion while the freeze dried powder will disperse with mild sonication.

The GOgraphene team would like to take this as an opportunity to thank all of their customers for their support in 2016. It has been an exciting year and since the launch last summer support for GOgraphene has continued to grow. We would like to wish everyone a happy new year and look forward to all of the graphene oxide research to come in 2017.

William Blythe Ltd, the manufacturer of all of the graphene oxide materials supplied via the GOgraphene webshop has a clear objective to produce industrially relevant quantities and quality of graphene oxide in order to support the development and commercialisation of graphene oxide applications. As a result, the company has started work on scaling up the manufacture of graphene oxide, an exciting two-dimensional material from the graphene family.

Supply of research scale quantities of graphene oxide through the GOgraphene webshop became possible when William Blythe reached the large lab scale of manufacture. Batches of graphene oxide are currently prepared on the 30 L scale by a Development Chemist, ensuring each batch meets the same high quality expectations of all William Blythe Ltd products. As demand for William Blythe’s graphene oxide is increasing, the company is now looking at scaling their production to 3,000 L batches, allowing an output of up to 25 kg of dried equivalent graphene oxide per batch. Once William Blythe is able to manufacture on this scale, the company will be well placed to provide larger quantities of their graphene oxide products to customers looking to scale up their graphene oxide applications. As such, both initial research quantities (gram and millilitre scale) and initial scale-up quantities (kilogram and litre scale) will be available for purchase from William Blythe Ltd across all sectors and industries who have an interest in using graphene oxide to enhance their products.

The scale up of manufacture is a key step towards William Blythe’s stated objective of providing high quality, commercially relevant quantities of graphene oxide to promote the development of commercial applications for graphene oxide. If you have any questions regarding William Blythe's proposed roadmap for graphene oxide scale up please get in touch. Any enquiries received regarding higher volumes of graphene oxide will be passed to your local Business Manager, who will get in touch to discuss your needs further.